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ocarakā

ocaraka

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

1. lowlife; mean; rough; lit. going down
2. undercover agent; informant; spy; infiltrator; lit. going low

Built from

• o — prefix · down, downward
  Reduced form of ava- (down); the spatial sense of descent carries into the moral sense of degradation and the tactical sense of moving covertly below notice.
• car — root · go, move, walk
  Sanskrit carati; cognate with Greek poreúō (to go, journey). The root denotes motion in general.
• aka — ending · agent noun, one who
  Diminutive and agent suffix that nominates the root: one who goes or moves, here specifically in a downward or furtive manner.

Analysis. o-cara-ka: verbal adjective from o (downward prefix, from ava-) + √car (go, move) + -ka (diminutive/agent suffix). Literally 'one who goes down or lurks below'; hence an informant who moves stealthily or operates undercover.

Etymology. The prefix o- is the reduced form of ava- (down, downward; Latin aufero, English off). The root √car (to move, go, walk) appears in Sanskrit carati and is cognate with Greek poreúō (go, journey). The sense 'to go down' + the agent suffix -ka yields a word for someone who moves furtively or operates beneath the surface—both literally a vagabond and figuratively a spy or informer.

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

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