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majjhime

majjhima

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

1. middle; middling; medium; medium-sized; moderate
2. medium strength
3. (vinaya) monk of five to ten years standing; lit. middle
4. used; worn; lit. middle age
5. (gram) 2nd (person) (you; you all); lit. middle
6. Majjhima Nikāya; lit. middle
7. medium height; medium size
8. middle person; man in the middle; lit. middle
9. …

Built from

• ma- — prefix · negation, not
  Reduced form of the prefix a-, here interacting with madhya. Some scholars read this as zero morphology; others see it as reinforcing the notion of non-extremity.
• jjhi — stem · middle, center
  From Sanskrit madhya-, with regular Pali gemination of dh → jjh after short vowel. The stem carries the core spatial sense: equidistant between two points.
• -ma — ending · adjective
  Suffix forming adjectives, here marking the quality of "being in the middle" or "moderate."

Etymology. From madhya- (Sanskrit madhya-, from √madhya "to be in the middle"). The shift from dh to jjh is regular Pali sound change (Geminata Rule after short vowel before -ima). Cognate with English mid (from PIE *medhyo- "middle"), German Mitte, Sanskrit madhya. The root imagery is positional: neither at the beginning nor the end, but equidistant between extremes — hence "moderate" and "middling" follow naturally.

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

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