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adinnādānaṁ

adinnādāna

neuter singular accusative

1. stealing, theft
2. taking what is not given (the second of the five precepts)

Built from

• a — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)-.
• dinna — stem · given
  Past participle of √dā 'give'; forms a limiting sense 'what has not been given'.
• ādāna — stem · taking, taking up
  Verbal noun from √dā with the prefix ā- (toward, complete action), meaning 'taking' or 'grasping'. Here integrated into the compound.
• ṁ — ending · accusative
  Neuter singular accusative marker, indicating the direct object or the action itself as the focus of moral precept.

Analysis. adinna (not given) + ādāna (taking): the compound term means 'the taking of what has not been given', a fundamental breach of the precept against theft.

Etymology. a- (not, without) + dinna (given, past participle of deti 'gives', from √dā). The prefix negates the notion of freely given property; Sanskrit equivalent is adattādāna. The morphology parallels the canonical term for the second precept.

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

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