bát-nhã

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• bát nhã

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 般 (MC pan) (SV: ban) (or 盤 (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

Derived terms

• bát-nhã-ba-la-mật-đa