‹ Back to the text

tesu

ta

masc loc pl of ta (pron); nt loc pl of ta (pron); masc loc pl of ta (letter)

1. ta (pron): that
2. ta (letter): (gram) letter t; 24th letter of the alphabet; dental sibilant
3. tesu (pron): in those; in them; among them; among those

Built from

• te — root · that (stem before -su)
  Demonstrative pronoun, masc. and neut. stem ta-. Cognates: English "the", "that"; Latin "is"; Sanskrit "tat". Carries the speaker's pointing gesture toward a distant referent.
• su — ending · locative plural
  The locative plural ending marks location, accompaniment, or sphere of action. Originally spatial ("in", "at"), it extends to abstract relations in doctrinal contexts ("among the dhammas", "in the sangha").

Etymology. The demonstrative stem ta- (that) derives from Proto-Indo-European *to-, the same root underlying English "the", "that", Latin "is", and Sanskrit "tat". The locative plural ending -su marks location or sphere, originally concrete ("in", "at"), later abstract ("in respect of", "among"). Tesu is the regular form: ta + su.

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

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