What is a woman?

Explore the ancient language of the Tipitaka and Theravāda commentaries
Post Reply
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

Could someone provide me with the Pali word for woman and its definition?
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: What is a woman?

Post by Sam Vara »

The Pali word for woman is itthi, and its definition is "woman".
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

Sam Vara wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:40 pm The Pali word for woman is itthi, and its definition is "woman".
Itthi is woman, what is the Pali word for man?
Do you have a link to the Pali definitions?
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: What is a woman?

Post by Sam Vara »

thepea wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:54 pm
Sam Vara wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:40 pm The Pali word for woman is itthi, and its definition is "woman".
Itthi is woman, what is the Pali word for man?
Do you have a link to the Pali definitions?
New Concise Pali English Dictionary

nara
masculine
a man; a person; plural men; people
The easiest way to access the P E.D. is via the search function on Sutta Central.
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

Sam Vara wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 12:00 am
thepea wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:54 pm
Sam Vara wrote: Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:40 pm The Pali word for woman is itthi, and its definition is "woman".
Itthi is woman, what is the Pali word for man?
Do you have a link to the Pali definitions?
New Concise Pali English Dictionary

nara
masculine
a man; a person; plural men; people
The easiest way to access the P E.D. is via the search function on Sutta Central.
A man is plural???

Do you have a link to the definitions, I’m having trouble accessing sutta central.
santa100
Posts: 6811
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by santa100 »

thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 12:06 am A man is plural???

Do you have a link to the definitions, I’m having trouble accessing sutta central.
https://suttacentral.net/search?query=nara

Simply append any Pali word you want to search after the 'query=' part. So for the example above, it meant "man" in singular, and "men" in plural form.
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

santa100 wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:49 am
thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 12:06 am A man is plural???

Do you have a link to the definitions, I’m having trouble accessing sutta central.
https://suttacentral.net/search?query=nara

Simply append any Pali word you want to search after the 'query=' part. So for the example above, it meant "man" in singular, and "men" in plural form.
So is the definition of man in Pali simply a person.
And a woman is a woman?

I found a link to woman in Pali itthi and the definition says an adult human female.
But I could not find anything for man.
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

itthi
feminine
a female; a woman; a wife.

Here is the definition from the link.
And here is one from another link.
Itthi: adult human female.


So these are differing. The latter is similar to Oxford dictionary definition of a woman. But sutta central seems to denote a woman as a wife(married). Why the difference? Is there another word for woman in Pali or another term used to describe an unwed female?
santa100
Posts: 6811
Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2011 10:55 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by santa100 »

thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:57 am So is the definition of man in Pali simply a person.
And a woman is a woman?

I found a link to woman in Pali itthi and the definition says an adult human female.
But I could not find anything for man.
To be honest, I'd have to say your effort to use suttacentral.net's Pali dictionary for definition of male vs. female won't be very fruitful, for you're referencing a ~ 2,500 yr-old system to define terms which contexts have evolved way beyond what the old scholars 2,500 yrs ago had in mind, for better or for worse.
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

santa100 wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:34 am
thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:57 am So is the definition of man in Pali simply a person.
And a woman is a woman?

I found a link to woman in Pali itthi and the definition says an adult human female.
But I could not find anything for man.
To be honest, I'd have to say your effort to use suttacentral.net's Pali dictionary for definition of male vs. female won't be very fruitful, for you're referencing a ~ 2,500 yr-old system to define terms which contexts have evolved way beyond what the old scholars 2,500 yrs ago had in mind, for better or for worse.
Is a bhikku a biological male and a bhikkuni a biological female?
I’m trying to decipher the Pali words which denote man and woman as to segregate the two as is done.
Now if itthi is woman and defined without a biological sex and similarly man is defined as a person or men in plural and no biological sex is mentioned, why segregate the sangha into bhikkus and bhikkunis?
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: What is a woman?

Post by Sam Vara »

thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 11:01 am
santa100 wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 2:34 am
thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 1:57 am So is the definition of man in Pali simply a person.
And a woman is a woman?

I found a link to woman in Pali itthi and the definition says an adult human female.
But I could not find anything for man.
To be honest, I'd have to say your effort to use suttacentral.net's Pali dictionary for definition of male vs. female won't be very fruitful, for you're referencing a ~ 2,500 yr-old system to define terms which contexts have evolved way beyond what the old scholars 2,500 yrs ago had in mind, for better or for worse.
Is a bhikku a biological male and a bhikkuni a biological female?
I’m trying to decipher the Pali words which denote man and woman as to segregate the two as is done.
Now if itthi is woman and defined without a biological sex and similarly man is defined as a person or men in plural and no biological sex is mentioned, why segregate the sangha into bhikkus and bhikkunis?
All these questions are outside the scope of the Pali sub-forum. Whether bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are biologically based is more a question about the sangha and monasticism. The Pali sub-forum is not here so that people can raise their contemporary concerns about sex and gender. You already have a couple of other threads going on this or related topics. Further off-topic posts will be removed.
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

Could someone provide definition for bhikku and for bhikkuni?
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13482
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: What is a woman?

Post by Sam Vara »

thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 6:41 pm Could someone provide definition for bhikku and for bhikkuni?
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, however...

1) Go to Sutta Central here: https://suttacentral.net/

2) At the top right of the page, you will see a little magnifying glass symbol. Click on it.

3) You will see the box next to it opens, and the word "search" comes up. Type the Pali word in there, and then press Enter.

4) Ta-Daaaa!
bhikkhu
masculine
a Buddhist monk
(Note that the "masculine" bit merely refers to the gender of the noun, not whether the noun or all or any bhikkhus have a penis.)

5) Now try with "bhikkhuni". Note how both terms have a second "h" in them. The look-up likes exact spellings, but it isn't fussy about diacritic markings. If in doubt, leave them out.
thepea
Posts: 4047
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:06 pm

Re: What is a woman?

Post by thepea »

Sam Vara wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:41 pm
thepea wrote: Thu Jun 23, 2022 6:41 pm Could someone provide definition for bhikku and for bhikkuni?
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, however...

1) Go to Sutta Central here: https://suttacentral.net/

2) At the top right of the page, you will see a little magnifying glass symbol. Click on it.

3) You will see the box next to it opens, and the word "search" comes up. Type the Pali word in there, and then press Enter.

4) Ta-Daaaa!
bhikkhu
masculine
a Buddhist monk
(Note that the "masculine" bit merely refers to the gender of the noun, not whether the noun or all or any bhikkhus have a penis.)

5) Now try with "bhikkhuni". Note how both terms have a second "h" in them. The look-up likes exact spellings, but it isn't fussy about diacritic markings. If in doubt, leave them out.
The spelling must be what was preventing the definitions from coming up. I was getting a bunch of other stuff.

Bhikkhuni: an almswoman, a female mendicant a Buddhist nun

So you are correct with regards to Bhikkhu saying masculine but for bhikkhuni it is specific to sex with female definition.
Post Reply