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lokuttarā

lokuttara

masc nom pl of lokuttara (adj); fem nom sg of lokuttara (adj); fem nom pl of lokuttara (adj); nt nom pl of lokuttara (adj); …

1. supra-mundane; transcendental; lit. beyond the world

Built from

• loka — root · world
  From √lok 'to see', hence the visible world, the world of perception. Cognate with Latin locus.
• ut — prefix · up, out
  Direction away from and upward; uttara is the comparative form. Same root as English 'utter' and German 'aus'.
• tara — ending · beyond, further
  Comparative suffix; the -a at the end is the nominative singular masculine adjective ending, making the whole compound agreement-ready across genders.

Analysis. loka (world) + uttara (beyond, further); literally 'world-beyond' or 'beyond-world', denoting the Four Noble Truths, Nibbāna, and the path leading thereto as opposed to mundane (lokiya) concerns. In the canon, lokuttarā dhammadhammānudhammappaṭipannā are the supramundane teachings that lead beyond saṁsāra.

Etymology. loka from √lok 'to see' (hence 'world of seeing'); uttara from utta-ra, the comparative of 'ut' (out, up), cognate with English 'utter' (to put forth completely) and Sanskrit uttara 'further, beyond'. The compound fuses spatial and conceptual registers: out-and-up from the world.

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

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