tapassi

tapassī

masc voc sg of tapassī (noun); nt nom sg of tapassī (adj); nt acc sg of tapassī (adj); nt voc sg of tapassī (adj)

ascetic; lit. who burns
devoted to religious austerities; performing ascetic practices; lit. burning

Built from

tap — root · burn, heat
The root carries the sense of scorching inner fire. Cognate with Latin tepēre (warm) and English tepid; in ascetic contexts, the heat is metaphorical — the intensity of renunciation and practice consuming impurity.
as — ending · agent/doer
Suffix forming agent nouns from verbal roots; -ī marks the masculine nominative singular and feminine forms that follow throughout the noun's declension.

Etymology. From √tap 'to burn, to heat', cognate with Latin tepēre 'to be warm', English tepid. The ascetic meaning derives from the image of inner heat generated by austerity practices (tapas), which 'burns away' defilements.

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

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