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kāyāyatanaṁ

kāyāyatana

noun, accusative singular

1. the body-sense-base
2. the realm of tactile sensation
3. one of the twelve sense-bases in Buddhist psychology

Built from

• kāya — root · body
  The material form; in Buddhist psychology, the body as an object of sense (the tangible).
• ā — prefix · toward, up to
  Marks the field or domain as something stretched out to and through which experience flows.
• tan — root · stretch, extend
  The image is of a field or surface; āyatana is a 'stretching-out' or 'field' — a domain.
• a — ending · nominative stem
  Masculine noun ending; in the accusative -aṁ marks the direct object or domain being experienced.

Analysis. kāya (body) + āyatana (sense-base, field of sense-experience). The twelve āyatanas are the internal and external spheres of the senses through which contact and consciousness arise.

Etymology. kāya < PIE *keṁ 'body' (cognate with Greek kenos 'empty, hollow'); āyatana < ā + √tan 'to stretch, extend', literally 'a stretching-out' or 'a field', hence a domain or realm of experience.

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

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