‹ Back to the text

upamā

upama

masc nom pl of upama (adj); fem nom sg of upama (adj); fem nom pl of upama (adj); nt nom pl of upama (adj); …

1. upama (adj): similar to; like; lit. measuring near
2. upamā (fem): simile; comparison; parallel; example; illustration; lit. measuring near
3. upama (adj): employing a simile; using an example; with an illustration; lit. measuring near

Built from

• upa — prefix · near, alongside
  Spatial approach and proximity; the concrete sense of drawing close becomes the abstract notion of juxtaposition for comparison.
• mā — root · measure, weigh
  Cognate with Latin metior, English measure, Greek metron. Two things measured together reveal their similarity.

Analysis. upa + mā: upa (prefix, "up close to, near") + mā (root √mā "to measure"); literally "measuring near" or "measuring alongside", hence a comparison that places two things side by side for measurement.

Etymology. From upa- (approach, proximity; cognate with Greek hypo-, Latin sub-, English up) + √mā (to measure; cognate with Latin metior, English measure, Greek metron). The spatial sense of proximity in upa- becomes the abstract sense of comparison: placing one thing alongside another to gauge similarity.

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

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