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akusale

akusala

masc acc pl of akusala (adj); nt acc pl of akusala (adj); masc loc sg of akusala (adj); nt loc sg of akusala (adj); …

1. (of a person or animal) unskilful; incompetent; inexperienced
2. unbeneficial actions; unskilful deeds; the unwholesome
3. unhealthy; unwholesome; unskilful; unbeneficial; kammically unprofitable

Built from

• a — prefix · not
  Plain negation without. Cognates: English un-, Greek a(n)- (atheist). Here negating the entire adjective kusala.
• kusala — root · skillful, wholesome
  √kus- means competent or fit; kusala denotes both skillfully made actions and morally wholesome deeds. The word is not a productive root in Pali but a bound stem used in ethical and psychological contexts.

Etymology. a- (prefix: not, without) + kusala (skillful, wholesome). Kusala descends from √kus- (to be skilled, competent); the negation marks the opposite of kusala deeds and mental states, central to Buddhist ethics as the inverse of the noble eightfold path.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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