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panāniccaṁ

panānīccaṃ

nominative neuter singular (or accusative neuter singular) of panānīcca, an adjective or abstract noun; alternative form: panāniccaṃ

1. utter impermanence
2. complete non-permanence

Built from

• pa — prefix · forth, intensifying
  Prefix denoting emphasis and forward motion; here emphasizes the radical or complete nature of impermanence.
• nānīcca — stem · impermanence, non-permanence
  Compound of a- (not) + nicca (permanence). Central to the Buddhist doctrine of anicca, one of the three marks of all conditioned phenomena.

Analysis. panānīccaṃ is a compound: pa + nānīcca, where pa (prefix meaning 'forth, forward, intensifying') is applied to nānīcca (lack of permanence, impermanence). The whole term emphasizes the transcendence or radical nature of impermanence as a doctrinal principle.

Etymology. panānīcca builds on nānīcca (non-permanence, anicca 'impermanent', a-nicca 'not permanent'). Anicca derives from a- (without, non-) + nicca (permanent). The concept of anicca (impermanence, anattā, dukkha) is one of the three lakhaṇā or marks of existence in Buddhist doctrine. The prefix pa- here intensifies: 'utter impermanence,' the most radical and immediate sense of flux.

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

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