Definitions
Buddhist hymn; gatha; Buddhist verse
forceful; martial
Etymology
About
The character "偈" is structurally composed of the person radical 亻 and the phonetic component 曷, with its early usage in classical texts denoting a sense of bravery or swiftness when pronounced as jié. Following the introduction of Buddhism to China, this character was appropriated as a transcription for the Sanskrit word "gāthā", a type of metrical verse or hymn in Buddhist scriptures, thereby acquiring the pronunciation jì and a largely religious semantic field. This adaptation resulted in a distinct bifurcation of meaning, where the original connotation of martial vigor receded in common use while the Buddhist term became the character's primary association.
Etymology Hide
