feminine
- a slender tree, a creeping plant, creeper AN.i.202 (māluvā˚); Vv.35#5 (= vallī Vv-a.162) Vv.47#4 (kosātakī l.); Ja.i.464 (rukkha˚, here perhaps better “branch”); Dhp-a.i.392 (˚pasādhana: see under mahā˚) Mil.253, Mil.351; Vv-a.12 (kappa˚); Pv-a.51, Pv-a.121; Vism.183 (where the foll. kinds are given: lābu, kumbhaṇḍī sāmā, kāḷavallī, pūtilatā)
■ nāga˚; the iron wood tree; see under nāga; pūti˚; a sort of creeper (q.v.). On latā in similes see J.P.T.S. 1907, 130. - (fig.) an epithet of taṇhā (greed), as much as it strangles its victim Dhs.1059, Dhs.1136; Ne.24, Ne.121.
- (fig.) streak flash, in vijjul-latā flash of lightning Ja.i.103.
- -kamma creeper-work (combined with mālā-kamma Vin.ii.117, Vin.ii.152.
cp. Sk. latā, connected with Lat. lentus flexible; Ohg. lindi soft, E. lithe; also Ohg. lintea lime tree; Gr. ἐλάτη fir tree