bhikkhu

See also: bhikkhū

English

Alternative forms

• bhikku, bikkhu, bhikshu, bhiksu
• bhikkhuni (feminine - a Buddhist nun)
• bhikshuni (feminine - a Buddhist nun)

Etymology

Transliteration of Pali bhikkhu (“beggar, Buddhist monk”), from Sanskrit भिक्षु (bhikṣu, “mendicant”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪkuː/

Noun

bhikkhu (plural bhikkhus)

1. A male Buddhist monk or priest; one who follows all Buddhist precepts as a full member of the sangha.

Synonyms

• bonze (dated)

Coordinate terms

• samana, sramana (ascetic hermits); bhikkhuni (Buddhist nun)

Translations

Buddhist monk

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Burmese: ဘိက္ခု (my) (bhikhku.), ဘုန်းကြီး (my) (bhun:kri:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 比丘 (zh) (bǐqiū), 和尚 (zh) (héshang), 僧侶／僧侣 (zh) (sēnglǚ)

• Finnish: buddhalainen munkki, buddhalaismunkki
• French: bhikshu m
• German: Bhikkhu m
• Hindi: भिक्षु (hi) (bhikṣu)
• Indonesian: biksu (id), biku (id)
• Italian: monaco buddista m
• Japanese: 比丘 (ja) (びく, biku), 苾蒭 (びっしゅ, bisshu, ひっすう, hissū), 苾芻 (びっしゅ, bisshu)
• Khmer: ឧបសម្បន្ន (km) (u’pa’sɑmban), ភិក្ខុ (km) (pʰikkʰo’)
• Korean: 비구 (bigu)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: biku, biksu, sami
• Mongolian: гэлэн (mn) (gelen), ᠭᠡᠯᠦᠩ (gelüŋ)
• Nepali: भिक्षु (bhikṣu)
• Pali: bhikkhu m
• Portuguese: bico (pt)
• Punjabi: bhikkhu m
• Russian: бхи́кшу (ru) m (bxíkšu)
• Sanskrit: भिक्षु (sa) m (bhikṣu)
• Shan: ၽိၵ်ႈၶူႇ (phīk khùu)
• Sinhalese: භික්‍ෂූහූ (bhikṣūhū)
• Spanish: bhikkhu m
• Tamil: துறவி (ta) (tuṟavi)
• Thai: ภิกษุ (th) (pík-sù), ภิกขุ (th) (pík-kù), พระภิกษุ (th)
• Tibetan: དགེ་སློང (dge slong)
• Vietnamese: Tỉ-khâu, Tỉ-khưu

Pali

Alternative forms

Alternative forms

• 𑀪𑀺𑀓𑁆𑀔𑀼 (Brahmi script)
• भिक्खु (Devanagari script)
• ভিক্খু (Bengali script)
• භික‍්ඛු (Sinhalese script)
• ဘိက္ခု or ꧤိၵ္ၶု or ꧤိၵ်ၶု (Burmese script)
• ภิกฺขุ or ภิกขุ (Thai script)
• ᨽᩥᨠ᩠ᨡᩩ (Tai Tham script)
• ຠິກ຺ຂຸ or ຠິກຂຸ (Lao script)
• ភិក្ខុ (Khmer script)
• 𑄞𑄨𑄇𑄴𑄈𑄪 (Chakma script)

Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit भिक्षु (bhikṣu). Related to bhikkhati, bhikkhā. Cognate with Prakrit 𑀪𑀺𑀓𑁆𑀔𑀼 (bhikkhu).

Noun

bhikkhu m (feminine bhikkhunī)

1. a beggar (one who begs)
2. a Buddhist monk

Declension

Declension table of "bhikkhu" (masculine)

Case \ Number	Singular	Plural
Nominative (first)	bhikkhu	bhikkhavo or bhikkhū
Accusative (second)	bhikkhuṃ	bhikkhavo or bhikkhū
Instrumental (third)	bhikkhunā	bhikkhūhi or bhikkhūbhi
Dative (fourth)	bhikkhussa or bhikkhuno	bhikkhūnaṃ
Ablative (fifth)	bhikkhusmā or bhikkhumhā	bhikkhūhi or bhikkhūbhi
Genitive (sixth)	bhikkhussa or bhikkhuno	bhikkhūnaṃ
Locative (seventh)	bhikkhusmiṃ or bhikkhumhi	bhikkhūsu
Vocative (calling)	bhikkhu	bhikkhave or bhikkhavo

Further reading

• Pali Text Society (1921-1925), “bhikkhu”, in Pali-English Dictionary‎, London: Chipstead, page 504
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “bhikṣú”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press, page 541