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kusalā

kusala

masc nom pl of kusala (adj); fem nom sg of kusala (adj); fem nom pl of kusala (adj); nt nom pl of kusala (adj); …

1. kusala (adj): healthy; beneficial; useful; good; wholesome; karmically profitable
2. kusala (adj): skilled; clever; competent; expert; adept (in)
3. kusala (masc): master (of); expert (in); adept (in) familiar (with); person skilled (in)
4. kusala (nt): good; benefit; merit; good deed; doing good
5. kusala (nt): health; how are you?
6. kusalā (masc): masters; 'masters'; experts; 'experts'

Built from

• ku — root · crooked, bent
  The root conveys lack of straightness or defect. By inversion, what corrects crookedness becomes skillfully ordered and wholesome.
• sala — ending · instrumental/agent suffix
  Forms agent nouns and adjectives denoting quality or fitness. Here it nominally marks 'one who possesses straightness of action', evolving to mean skillful, wholesome, and meritorious.

Etymology. From √ku- 'crooked, bent' (Sanskrit ku-) + -sala (instrumental suffix creating agent nouns). The underlying metaphor treats crookedness as lack of straightness—hence defect—making ku-sala literally 'not-straight, well-ordered', evolved to mean skillful and morally sound. Sanskrit cognate kuśala shares the root; Indo-European *skel- 'bend, curve' (English skill via Old Norse) shows the same association of straightness with competence.

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

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