bát-nhã

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Sino-Vietnamese word from 般若, from Chinese 般若 (bōrě), from Pali paññā, from Sanskrit प्रज्ञा (prajñā).

This term was also spelled 盤若 in some Nôm texts. It is not clear why (MC pan) (SV: ban) (or (MC ban) (SV: bàn)) here is read with bát. It might be an attempt at Sanskritisation, since Sanskrit has -d͡ʑ- corresponding to Vietnamese -t- here.

Pronunciation

  • (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [ʔɓaːt̚˧˦ ɲaː˦ˀ˥]
  • (Huế) IPA(key): [ʔɓaːk̚˦˧˥ ɲaː˧˨]
  • (Saigon) IPA(key): [ʔɓaːk̚˦˥ ɲaː˨˩˦]
  • Phonetic spelling: bát nhã

Noun

bát-nhã

  1. (Buddhism) prajñā; Buddhist transcendental wisdom

Derived terms