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amoho

amoha

masc nom sg of amoha (noun); masc nom sg of amoha (adj)

1. wisdom; clear understanding; sanity; freedom from ignorance; lit. not confusion
2. free from delusion; with no ignorance; lit. not confusion

Built from

• a- — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)- (atheist). Here it strips away the cloudiness of delusion.
• moha — root · delusion, confusion
  From √muh 'to be bewildered, clouded'. The mental state opposite to clear seeing (paññā) and a root of suffering in the Buddhist analysis.

Analysis. a- (not) + moha (delusion); literally 'non-confusion', the absence of mental cloudiness that obscures reality.

Etymology. The prefix a- (without, not — plain negation, cognate with English un- and Greek a(n)-) negates moha, 'delusion' or 'confusion', from √muh 'to be bewildered'. The compound expresses what arises when ignorance (avijjā) is dispelled: the clarity and wisdom (paññā) that sees things as they are.

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

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