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khāditabbaṁ

khāditavya

neuter nominative singular of khāditavya, past participle in -tabba; resolves to khādita + -tabba (inflected khāditabbaṁ)

1. should be eaten
2. fit to be eaten
3. something to eat

Built from

• khādi — root · eat
  Original sense of chewing or consuming food. Cognate with English chew and Germanic roots.
• -ta — ending · past participle
  Regular past participle formative, creating the passive sense 'eaten'.
• -bba — ending · obligative/potential
  Suffix forming obligatory or potential meaning: what should be or may be done. Often appears as -tabba after verbs.
• -ṁ — ending · neuter nominative singular
  Neuter nominative singular inflection of the -a stem; the anusvara (ṁ) marks nasalization before a pause or consonant.

Analysis. khāditavya is a future/obligative participle formed from khādati (eat) with the suffix -tabba, expressing what ought to be or must be done. The -taṁ ending marks neuter nominative singular.

Etymology. From √khād (eat; cognate with English chew, Sanskrit khādati). The suffix -tabba marks obligatory or potential action. Related to Latin findere (split, chew).

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

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