‹ Back to the text

kusalesu

kusala

masc loc pl of kusala (adj); nt loc pl of kusala (adj); masc loc pl of kusala (noun); nt loc pl of kusala (noun); …

1. kusala (adj): healthy; beneficial; useful; good; wholesome; karmically profitable
2. kusala (adj): skilled; clever; competent; expert; adept (in)
3. kusala (masc): master (of); expert (in); adept (in) familiar (with); person skilled (in)
4. kusala (nt): good; benefit; merit; good deed; doing good
5. kusala (nt): health; how are you?
6. kusalā (masc): masters; 'masters'; experts; 'experts'

Built from

• kusala — root · wholesome, skill
  The root √kus- means 'to mix or blend'; kusala originally denoted something well-composed or properly mixed, then extended to mean 'skillful, proper, wholesome'. In doctrinal usage, kusala-kamma denotes actions that bear good fruit.

Etymology. From √kus- 'to mix, blend' (possibly related to Sanskrit kuśala from the same root); the sense developed from 'well-mixed, well-compounded' to 'fitting, proper, skillful, wholesome'. The word carries both ethical (karmically profitable actions) and practical (skilled, expert) senses in the canon.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version