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manussā

manussa

masc nom pl of manussa (noun); masc instr sg of manussa (noun); masc abl sg of manussa (noun); masc voc sg of manussa (noun); …

1. human being; man; person

Built from

• man- — root · think; mind
  The root *men- (to think, have intelligence) appears in English 'man', 'mind', 'mental'; Latin 'mens' (mind); Sanskrit Manu (the thinking being, primordial man). Humans are defined by thought.
• -ussa — ending · one who is; having the quality of
  The suffix -ṣya/-ssa makes adjectives and nominalizes roots into agent nouns. Here it nominally forms 'one who thinks'—a human being.

Etymology. From Sanskrit manuṣya, derived from Manu, the primordial lawgiver and first human in Indo-Aryan mythology. Manu itself is cognate with English 'man' and Latin 'mensis' (via the Indo-European root *men- meaning 'to think' or 'to have mind'), reflecting the characterization of humans as thinking beings. The Sanskrit suffix -ṣya (Pali -ssa) forms adjectives and agent nouns.

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

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