pali
/ˈpɑːli/ proper noun, noun, adjective
Forms Palis Pally
- proper noun A Middle Indo-Aryan language of north India, closely related to Sanskrit; the sacred language of Theravāda Buddhism.
- proper noun A district of Rajasthan, India.
- noun (derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A Palestinian person.
- adjective (derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) Palestinian.
- proper noun (surfing, slang) The Pacific Palisades coast.
Etymology
A learned borrowing from Sanskrit पालि (pāli).
Clipping of Palestinian, influenced by Paki.
Clipping of Palisades.
From Mandarin 八里 (Bālǐ), Wade–Giles romanization: Pa¹-li³.
Webster’s 1913
- noun pl. of Palus.
- noun A dialect descended from Sanskrit, and like that, a dead language, except when used as the sacred language of the Buddhist religion in Farther India, etc.
Etymology [Ceylonese, fr. Skr. pali row, line, series, applied to the series of Buddhist sacred texts.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pali”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details