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pāpakā

pāpaka

masc nom pl of pāpaka (adj); nt nom pl of pāpaka (adj); masc abl sg of pāpaka (adj); nt abl sg of pāpaka (adj); …

1. bad; wicked; evil; wrong; worthless; harmful
2. (of speech) rough; harsh; dirty
3. leading to; lit. reaching
4. what reaches, causes to reach; lit. reaching
5. bad deeds; wickedness; evil actions; wrongdoing

Built from

• pāp — root · bad, fall wrong
  From √pap, denoting what has fallen into a bad or degraded state. The root carries the sense of moral and physical degradation.
• -aka — ending · suffix forming adjective
  Diminutive or quality-marking suffix that derives adjectives from roots, often with a qualitative or slightly depreciative tone. Here it marks the adjective as a quality or state.

Etymology. From √pap (to fall, go wrong), related to Sanskrit pāpa. The root imagery is of something that has fallen or slipped into a bad state. No clear Indo-European cognate, but semantically parallel to Latin malus (bad) from the idea of falling short or being deficient.

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

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