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kamma

nt nom sg of kamma (noun); nt acc sg of kamma (noun); nt voc sg of kamma (noun)

1. action; deed; doing
2. work; job; occupation
3. action; deed; work (subject)
4. action; deed; work (object)
5. (vinaya) legal act; legal procedure; formal action
6. (gram) object of the verb
7. (gram) passive voice; lit. action
8. volitional action

Built from

• kamma — root · doing, action
  √kar 'to do, make' + -ma (instrumental nominal suffix). The -ma suffix originally marked the instrument or manner of the action ('the doing itself'), but came to denote the action as a substantive entity. In Buddhist doctrine, kamma encompasses volition and its inevitable fruition.

Etymology. From √kar (Sanskrit √kṛ) 'to do, make'. Cognates: Latin creare 'create', English craft, German Kraft 'strength'. The semantic shift from 'doing' to 'the deed and its moral consequence' is central to Buddhist ethics: kamma is action imbued with intention (cetanā), binding its agent to future results (vipāka).

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

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