Word.ws English Dictionary

Shakya

Shakya proper noun: an ancient tribe of Iron Age India to which the Buddha belonged.

Proper noun

Shakya (plural Shakyas)

  1. An ancient tribe of Iron Age India to which the Buddha belonged.
  2. A surname from Nepali.

Forms of Shakya

pluralShakyas

Origin of Shakya

Borrowed from Nepali शाक्य (śākya), from Sanskrit शाक्य (śākya), which is most likely from Sanskrit शक् (śak, “to be able”). Alternatively, from Sanskrit शाखा (śākhā, “branch, teak”); see Shakya for more.

Questions about Shakya

What does Shakya mean?
Shakya means an ancient tribe of Iron Age India to which the Buddha belonged.
What part of speech is Shakya?
Shakya is a proper noun.

Words near Shakya in the dictionary

  1. Shakuntala
  2. Shakur
  3. Shakurs
  4. shakus
  5. shaky
  6. Shakya
  7. Shakyamuni
  8. Shakyamuni Buddha
  9. Shakyas
  10. shakycam
  11. shal

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Shakya (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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