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daharo

dahara

masc nom sg of dahara (adj); masc nom sg of dahara (noun)

1. young; youthful; junior
2. small; short
3. young boy; young man; youth
4. very young monk; five year old monk

Built from

• dah — root · hold back; delay
  √dhar- reduced in Pali; original sense 'that which is held back in growth' yields 'young, small'. No direct European cognate, though Sanskrit dhāra- (stream) and the root dhṛ (support, hold) show the same base.
• ara — ending · adjective suffix
  Pali nominalizing suffix forming adjectives and occasionally nouns of quality or state. Attaches to the root to form the adjective/noun stem.

Etymology. Root √dhar- (to hold, support); dahara as 'that which is held back, retarded' in growth. Cognate with Sanskrit dhāra- (stream, flow) and distantly English tarry (delay). The semantic shift from 'retarded' to 'small' and 'young' parallels English 'little' (both size and youth).

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

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