This week’s theme
Words borrowed from Sanskrit

This week’s words
brahmin
avatar
pundit
swami
karma


This week’s comments
AWADmail 758

Next week’s theme
Words that appear rude, but aren’t

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAHR-ma)

MEANING:

noun: 1. A person’s action (bad or good) that determines his or her destiny, in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
2. Destiny; fate.
3. An aura or atmosphere generated by someone or something.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Sanskrit karma (deed, work). Ultimately from the Indo-European root k^wer- (to make), which also gave us tera- (trillion), Farsi lashkar (army), and the word Sanskrit (literally, well-formed). Earliest documented use: 1827.

NOTES:

In Hinduism, after death a person is reborn to pay for bad actions or to enjoy the rewards of good actions in the previous life. The goal of life is to become free from the cycle of birth and death: nirvana (blowing out, extinguishing).

USAGE:

“Muranetz expects they will net about $100,000 for six months’ work. To keep the karma flowing, a portion of that will be contributed to uplifting causes.”
Rick Spence; How to Turn a Hopeful Quest into a Business; Montreal Gazette (Canada); Nov 24, 2016.

See more usage examples of karma in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: