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viññāṇaṁ

viññāṇa

accusative singular neuter

1. consciousness, awareness
2. mind-moment, act of cognition
3. the five aggregates (in doctrinal context)

Built from

• vi — prefix · apart, asunder
  Marks discriminating, analytical knowing; consciousness arises by distinguishing subject from object.
• jñā — root · know
  PIE *gn̥-, seen in English 'know', Latin 'gnoscere'. Here it means the cognitive act itself.
• a — ending · neuter nominative stem
  Forms the abstract noun stem; -aṁ is the accusative singular masculine/neuter ending, marking this as the direct object in the sentence.

Analysis. vi + √jñā: 'knowing apart', discriminating awareness — the faculty that distinguishes objects and generates the sense of a subject experiencing them.

Etymology. vi- (apart, asunder) + √jñā (know, from PIE *gn̥- 'to know'; cognates: English 'know', German 'kennen', Latin 'gnoscere'). The prefix vi- gives the sense of knowing that separates and discriminates, hence consciousness as the faculty that divides subject from object.

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

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