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accantabrahmacārī

masc nom sg of accantabrahmacārī (adj); masc nom pl of accantabrahmacārī (adj); fem nom sg of accantabrahmacārī (adj); nt nom pl of accantabrahmacārī (adj); …

1. completely living the holy life; perfectly following the spiritual journey

Built from

• ati — prefix · beyond, over
  Spatial sense of exceeding or going past the mark; intensifies what follows.
• kanta — stem · gone
  Past participle of kamati 'go'; related to Latin cedere and English come.
• accanta — stem · extreme, uttermost
  Combines the prefix ati- with kanta to form an adjective meaning 'completely, to the uttermost degree'.
• brahman — root · sacred utterance
  From Vedic brahman; denotes the sacred or Absolute. Used in Buddhist compounds to mean 'holy' or 'spiritual'.
• car — root · walk, conduct
  Root of carati 'walk, behave'; same root as English 'car' (vehicle) and Sanskrit caryā 'conduct'.
• ī — ending · feminine agent
  Agent noun suffix: marks one who performs the action (brahmacārī = 'one who walks the sacred way'). Here used as an adjective/substantive in masculine form via gender agreement.

Analysis. accanta (from ati-kanta, 'gone beyond, extreme, uttermost') + brahmacārī ('celibate, one living the brahmacarya or holy life'). The compound emphasizes the completeness and extremity of the commitment to celibacy; accanta darkens or intensifies the noun brahmacārī to mean 'utterly' or 'completely devoted to the celibate life'.

Etymology. accanta is ati + kanta (past participle of kamati, 'go'), meaning 'gone beyond, surpassed, extreme'. The prefix ati- ('over, beyond') combines with the root kamati (cognate with Latin cedere 'go, yield', English 'come') to form a compound expressing excess or completeness. Brahmacārī derives from brahman (Vedic, 'sacred utterance, the Absolute') and carati ('walk, conduct oneself'); in Pali this denotes one who follows the sacred way through celibacy. The full compound became the canonical term for one who upholds the monastic precepts in their most rigorous form.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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