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dukkhakkhayā

dukkhakkhaya

masc nom pl of dukkhakkhaya (noun); masc instr sg of dukkhakkhaya (noun); masc abl sg of dukkhakkhaya (noun); masc voc sg of dukkhakkhaya (noun); …

1. wearing away of suffering; extinction of stress; termination of tension

Built from

• dukkha — stem · suffering
  Nominalized adjective: du- (bad, gone wrong) + kha (hollow, difficult). The prefix du- conveys privation and difficulty, like Greek dys- in dystopia. Kha originally meant 'hollow' or 'difficult to bear'.
• kkhaya — stem · decay, extinction
  From √kshi 'to decay, wear away, perish'. The root appears in Sanskrit kṣaya (decay, destruction) and is cognate with the Greek root in θίσις (wearing). Kkhaya in doctrinal use denotes the ultimate cessation of a defilement or the exhaustion of suffering.
• ā — ending · singular nominative
  Masculine nominative singular ending; also marks the masculine stem class. The -ā marks the nominative, though the form is also analyzed as instrumental, ablative, or vocative singular in context.

Analysis. dukkha (suffering) + kkhaya (wearing away, decay). The compound expresses the central soteriological goal: the complete cessation of dukkha through its gradual dissolution.

Etymology. dukkha from du- (bad, gone wrong) + kha (from √khan 'dig, hollow'), lit. 'bad hollow' or 'hard to bear'; kkhaya from √kshi (wear away, decay), cognate with Sanskrit kṣaya, Greek θίσις 'wearing'. The prefix du- parallels Greek dys- (dysfunction) and Latin dis-. The root √kshi appears in English 'chthonic' (pertaining to earth/decay) via Greek.

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

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