‹ Back to the text

lokamhā

loka

masc abl sg of loka (noun)

1. world; universe; cosmos
2. world; plane of existence
3. people (of the world); population
4. world of experience; (comm) world of aggregates, sense spheres and elements

Etymology. From Indo-European *leuk- 'to shine, be bright' (English light, Latin lux, Greek leukos 'white, bright'). The world as the visible, illuminated realm. The semantic shift from 'brightness' to 'world' parallels the vivid concreteness of the perceived cosmos.

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

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