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dvādasamaṁ

dvādasama

accusative singular neuter of dvādasama (ordinal numeral adjective)

1. twelfth
2. the ordinal number 12

Built from

• dvā — root · two
  Cardinal number; cognate with English two, Latin duo, Greek dyo.
• da — root · ten
  Part of the compounded cardinal; from daśa (ten), cognate with Greek deka, Latin decem.
• sa — stem · (connecting element)
  Stem connector joining the two components in the compound numeral.
• ma — ending · ordinal marker
  Ordinal-forming suffix creating the adjective 'twelfth' from the cardinal 'twelve'.
• ṁ — ending · accusative singular neuter
  The accusative singular neuter ending, marking the word as the grammatical object of a verb or preposition.

Analysis. dvā-da-sa-ma: dvi (two) + daśa (ten) + -ma (ordinal suffix) = 2 + 10 = 12; the accusative singular neuter form dvādasamaṁ agrees with a neuter noun in the patient or object role.

Etymology. Sanskrit dvādaśa, from dvā (two, cognate with English two, Latin duo, Greek dyo) + daśa (ten, cognate with Greek deka, Latin decem, English ten). The ordinal suffix -ma derives from the same root as English -eth in archaic ordinals (fourth, fifth).

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

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