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mānuse

mānusa

masc acc pl of mānusa (adj); masc loc sg of mānusa (adj); nt loc sg of mānusa (adj); masc acc pl of mānusa (noun); …

1. mānusa (adj): human
2. mānusa (masc): human being; man; person
3. mānusā (masc): name of a group of deities

Built from

• mān — root · think, mind
  From IE *man- (Latin mēns 'mind', English man). The root originally meant possession of mental faculty; it became the marker of humanity.
• usa — ending · quality, state
  A Pali suffix marking a quality or state, forming adjectives and abstract nouns from verbal roots. Here it marks the quality of being minded or human.

Etymology. From Indo-European *man- 'to think, have mind' (seen in Sanskrit manuṣya, Latin mēns 'mind', English man). The Pali form mānusa shows the suffix -ussa/-usa, a common Pali diminutive or quality-marking suffix. The word embodies the sense of 'minded being', one possessed of thought and will.

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

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