LOGOI

The corpus record — Pali

pisācā

Pisāca

a demon goblin, sprite DN.i.54 (T. pesācā, variant reading pisācā, explained at DN-a.i.164 as “pisācā mahanta-mahantā sattā ti vadati”), DN.i.93 ; SN.i.209 ; AN.iii.69 ; Ud.5 ; Ja.i.235 ; Ja.iv.495 (yakkha p. peta); Mil.23 ; Vv-a.335 ; Pv-a.198 ; Sdhp.313 ■ f. pisācī Ja.v.442 . [like pisāca-loha ref

Every figure on this page is a live query of the corpus record.

Where it lives

What it meant — PTS Pali–English Dictionary

  1. a demon goblin, sprite DN.i.54 (T. pesācā, variant reading pisācā, explained at DN-a.i.164 as “pisācā mahanta-mahantā sattā ti vadati”), DN.i.93; SN.i.209; AN.iii.69; Ud.5; Ja.i.235; Ja.iv.495 (yakkha p. peta); Mil.23; Vv-a.335; Pv-a.198; Sdhp.313
    ■ f. pisācī Ja.v.442.
  2. [like pisāca-loha referring to the Paiśāca district, hailing from that tribe, cp the term malla in same meaning and origin] a sort of acrobat, as pl. pisācā “tumblers” Mil.191.
  • -nagara town of goblins (cp. yakkha-nagara) Vism.531.
  • -loha [connected with the tribe of the Paiśāca’s Mhbh vii.4819; cp. Paiśācī as one of the Prākrit dialects: Pischel, Prk. Gr. § 3] a kind of copper Vb-a.63 (eight varieties). Pisacaka = pisaca

cp. Sk. piśāca & Vedic piśāci; to same root as pisuna = Vedic piśuna, & Lat. piget, Ohg. fēhida enmity = Ags. faehp (“feud”), connected with root of Goth. fijan to hate; thus pisāca = fiend

In the wild

Downloads

Word record (JSON)·Concordance (CSV)·Frequencies (CSV)·Cite (BibTeX)

CC BY 4.0 with receipt attribution — every file carries its license line. What is exportable

Pali text and translations from SuttaCentral (Bilara), dedicated to the public domain (CC0). PTS Pali–English Dictionary entries, public domain.