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dukkhaṁ

dukkha

accusative singular neuter of dukkha; also nominative/accusative plural neuter

1. suffering, pain, affliction
2. unsatisfactoriness (the first Noble Truth)
3. discomfort, unease

Built from

• du(r) — prefix · bad, hard, gone wrong
  Spatial image of deviation or corruption. Greek cognate dys- (dystopia, dysfunction). Carries the sense of something that fails or falls short of what should be.
• kha — stem · space, cavity, opening
  From PIE *kah- (hollow). In dukkha the concrete sense of 'opening to badness' or 'state of difficulty' solidifies into the abstract noun for suffering—the opposite of sukha (well-being, ease).

Etymology. du(r)- (bad, hard, gone wrong; cognate Greek dys- in dysfunction, dystopia) + -kha (Pali form of Sanskrit -kṣa, belonging to, related to); literally 'belonging to what is bad or difficult'. The compound captures the sense of a state that goes wrong or is hard to bear.

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

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