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avijjañca

avijjā

feminine noun, nominative singular with postpositive conjunction ca

1. ignorance; illusion; not knowing; not understanding

Built from

• a — prefix · not, without
  Plain negation. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)- as in atheist, anonymous.
• vijjā — stem · knowing, knowledge
  Derived from √vid 'to see, to know'. Cognates: English wit, Latin vidēre, Sanskrit vid-. The root imagery is perception and sight.
• ca — ending · and (postpositive conjunction)
  Postpositive particle joining this word to what follows; no morphological change to avijjā stem itself.

Analysis. avijjā 'ignorance' + ca 'and'; a sandhi contraction where final -ṃ of avijjaṃ drops before ca. Often paired with other defilements in doctrinal lists (e.g. avijjañca taṇhā ca, ignorance and craving).

Etymology. a- (prefix: not, without; cognates English un-, Greek a(n)-) + vijjā (knowing, knowledge; from √vid 'to see, know', cognate with English wit, Latin vidēre, Sanskrit vid-). Avijjā thus means 'non-knowing'—the root blindness from which all suffering springs in Buddhist doctrine.

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

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