Pali pañca (47)
According to Davids and Stede’s Pali-English Dictionary, Pali word pañca means “characteristics of No. 5 in its use, with reference to literal and figurative application. “Five” is the number of “comprehensive and yet simple” unity or a set; it is applied in all cases of a natural and handy comprehension of several items into a group, after the 5 fingers of the hand, which latter lies at the bottom of all primitive expressions of No. 5.” It traces its origin to the Tamil root aintu through the transformation of aintu > pañcan > pañca. The following words, related to Pali pañca, also originate from aintu.
pañcaaggaṁ, “first fruits of 5 (kinds).” pañcaangā, “5 gentlemanly qualities.” pañcaangikaturiya, “5 kinds of music.” pañcaabhiññā, “5 psychic powers.” pañca-ānantarikakammāni, “5 acts that have immediate retribution.” pañcaindriyāni, “5 faculties.” pañcakāmaguṇā, “pleasures of the 5 senses.” pañcagorasā, “5 products of the cow.” pañcataṇhā, “cravings, specified in 4 sets of 5 each.” pañcanikāyā, “5 collections (of Suttantas).” pañcapatiṭṭhitaṁ, “5 fold prostration or veneration, viz. with forehead, waist, elbows, knees, feet (Childers) in phrase.” pañcabandhana, “either 5 ways of binding or pinioning or 5 fold bondage.” pañcabalāni, “5 forces.” pañcabhojanāni, “5 kinds of food.” pañcamacchariyāni, “5 kinds of selfishness.” pañcavaṇṇā, “5 colours.” pañcasīla, “the 5 moral precepts.” pañca-anga, “five (bad) qualities.” pañca-vippahīna, “free from the 5 sins.” pañcasamannāgata, “endowed with the 5 good qualities.” pañca-angika, “consisting of 5 parts, fivefold.” pañca-angulika, “the 5 finger-mark, palm.” pañca-āvudha, “set of 5 weapons.” pañca-âhaṁ, “5 days.” pañca-cūḷaka, “with 5 topknots.” pañca-nakha, “with 5 claws, name of a five-toed animal.” pañca-patikā, “having had 5 husbands.” pañca-mālin, “of a wild animal.” pañca-māsakamattaṁ, “a sum of 5 māsakas.” pañca-vaggiya, “belonging to a group of five; the 5 brahmins.” pañca-vidha, “fivefold.” pañca-sādhāraṇa-bhāva, “fivefold connection.” pañca-seṭṭha, “the most excellent in the five.” pañca-hattha, “having 5 hands.” pañcaka, “fivefold, consisting of five.” pañcakaṁ, “a pentad, five.” pañcakā, “sets of five.” taca-pañcaka, “skin-pentad, the 5 dermatoid constituents: kesā, lomā, nakhā, dantā, taco.” vakka-pañcaka, “the next five, ending with the kidneys.” papphāsapañcaka, “the next five, ending with the lungs and comprising the inner organs proper.” matthalungapañcaka, “the next five, ending with the brain, and 2 chakka’s (sets of 6).” pañcakkhattuṁ, “five times.” pañcadhā, “in five ways, fivefold.” pañcama, “numeral ordinal the fifth.” pañcaso, “by fives.” panti, “a row, range, line.”