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bhikkhuniyā

bhikkhunī

fem instr sg of bhikkhunī (noun); fem dat sg of bhikkhunī (noun); fem abl sg of bhikkhunī (noun); fem gen sg of bhikkhunī (noun); …

1. nun; fully ordained nun

Built from

• bhikkhu — root · monk, almsman
  One who has renounced householder life and survives by alms given by lay supporters. From Sanskrit bhikṣu, root meaning 'to beg'; in early Buddhism, the term emphasizes both the renunciate's break with wealth and the lay community's active role in supporting the Saṅgha.
• -nī — ending · feminine marker
  Standard Pali feminine noun-forming suffix, cognate with Sanskrit -nī (e.g. devī 'goddess' from deva 'god'). Here it creates the feminine counterpart to bhikkhu, marking a fully ordained female monastic within the fourfold Saṅgha.

Etymology. From bhikkhu (monk, almsman) + feminine suffix -nī. Bhikkhu derives from Sanskrit bhikṣu, ultimately from a root meaning 'to beg' or 'to ask'; the word originally denoted one who lives by alms. No certain Indo-European cognates, though the semantic field (mendicant, one dependent on the community's support) parallels Greek asketes and Latin monachus (both ultimately borrowed from Eastern monastic traditions).

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

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