‹ Back to the text

ovaṭṭikaṁ

ovaṭṭika

adjective, accusative singular masculine (or nominative singular neuter); from ova + ṭṭika

1. egg-shaped
2. oval
3. round

Built from

• ova — root · egg
  From PIE *h₂ewg- 'swell, increase'. Cognates: Sanskrit anda, Latin ovum, English egg. The oval shape is the natural image.
• ṭṭika — ending · shape/diminutive suffix
  Pali productive suffix forming adjectives of shape or reduced size; here indicating egg-like roundness or form.

Analysis. ova 'egg' + ṭṭika diminutive/shape suffix; ovaṭṭika denotes an oval or egg-like form, used of physical or conceptual roundness.

Etymology. Sanskrit anda 'egg'; the ova- element is related to Sanskrit anda (Latin ovum, English egg—all from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewg- 'to increase, swell'). The suffix -ṭṭika is Pali's productive diminutive and shape-forming morpheme.

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

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version