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byāpannacittā

byāpannacitta

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

1. with a malicious mind; evil-minded; hateful; full of ill-will; lit. gone wrong mind

Built from

• byā — prefix · apart, awry
  A fused prefix (vi- + ā-) suggesting movement in the wrong direction, corruption. Concrete: being driven away from wholeness.
• ap — root · reach, affect, move
  Root meaning 'to reach or affect'; used with prefix byā- to mean 'be corrupted, go wrong'.
• anna — ending · past participle
  Perfect passive participle (·ta/·na form), marking a completed action: 'has been corrupted, gone wrong'.
• citta — root · mind, consciousness
  From √cit 'to perceive, be conscious', the same root as Latin citare (set in motion); the mind as the faculty of awareness and intentional direction.

Analysis. byāpanna (past participle: 'gone wrong, corrupted') + citta (mind). The compound expresses a mind that has been corrupted by hatred or ill-will—a central obstruction to the Buddha's path.

Etymology. byāpanna is the past participle of byāpajjati (byā- + √ap 'to reach, affect'). The prefix byā- (variant of vi-ā-, 'apart and toward') conveys the sense of being driven apart, corrupted. Citta derives from the root √cit 'to perceive, be conscious', cognate with Latin citare (to set in motion) and English cite. The compound idiom is typical of Pali psychology, where mental states are analyzed through verb + noun combinations.

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

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