avyayibhava
|a-vya-yi-bha-va|
/əvˌjɑːjiˈbhɑːvə/
indeclinable-state (compound type)
Etymology
'avyayibhava' originates from Sanskrit, specifically the compound 'avyayī-bhāva', where 'avyaya' meant 'indeclinable' and 'bhāva' meant 'state' or 'being'.
'avyayī-bhāva' (Sanskrit) was transmitted into modern Western linguistic and Indological literature via 19th-century Sanskrit scholarship and was adopted into English as the transliterated technical term 'avyayibhava'.
Initially it meant 'the state or quality of being indeclinable' in Sanskrit; in modern grammatical usage it specifically names a class of compounds (samāsa) characterized by an indeclinable first member producing an adverbial/indeclinable sense.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a technical term in Sanskrit grammar referring to a type of compound (samāsa) in which the first member is an indeclinable (avyaya) and the compound as a whole functions adverbially or remains indeclinable.
In Sanskrit grammar, avyayibhava denotes a compound whose initial element is an indeclinable and which yields an adverbial or indeclinable meaning.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/12/02 01:28