# शून्यता (śūnyatā)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/shunyata

शून्यता (śūnyatā) is a Sanskrit word meaning emptiness, loneliness, desolateness, absence of mind or distraction, vacancy of gaze, absence or want of, emptiness, voidness, or inanity, desertness or loneliness. Its 7 recorded definitions are grouped into 4 contexts, among them Emptiness, Voidness, Desolation, Mental Inattention or Vacancy, General Absence or Want.

- **SLP1:** `SUnyatA`  **IAST:** śūnyatā  **Devanagari:** शून्यता
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81
- **Declensions:** 24 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/shunyata/declensions.md

## Meanings by context

### Emptiness, Voidness, Desolation (3 definitions)
- emptiness, loneliness, desolateness  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H3) [Printed book page 1085,2] शून्य (śūnya) — ता (—tā) f. emptiness, loneliness, desolateness, Rāmāyaṇa (Title); Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhajjātaka (Title) &c. ( cf. अ - शून्य (śūnya) ता (a-śūnyatā) ) [ ID=220093 ]
- 1. Emptiness. 2. Unreality.  
  *Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > शून्यता (śūnyatā) [Printed book page 0959-a ] शून्यता (śūnyatā) śūnya + tā, f., and शून्यत्व (śūnyatva) śūnya + tva, n. 1. Emptiness, Lass. 72, 10 ( tā ). 2. Unreality. — Comp. Mātṛ-, f. condition of having no mother, Cāṇ. 49 in Berl. Monatsb. 1864, 410. [ ID=14840 ]
- 1. Emptiness, voidness, or inanity. 2. Desertness or loneliness. 3. Absence or wandering of mind. 4. Absence or lack of something.  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > शून्यता (śūnyatā) [Printed book page 554 ] शून्यता (śūnyatā) f. ° त्व (°tva) n. emptiness, voidness, inanity; desert, loneliness; absence or wandering of mind; absence or want of (—°). [ ID=32960 ]

### Mental Inattention or Vacancy (2 definitions)
- Absence of mind or distraction  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > absence of mind, distraction, Suśruta (Title); Sarvadarśana-saṃgraha (Title) [ ID=220094 ]
- vacancy of gaze  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > vacancy (of gaze), Dhūrtasamāgama (Title) [ ID=220095 ]

### General Absence or Want (1 definition)
- absence or want of  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > ( ifc. ) absence or want of Cāṇakya (Author); Kumāra-sambhava (Title) [ ID=220096 ]

### Philosophical Nothingness or Unreality (1 definition)
- nothingness, non-existence, and the illusory nature of worldly phenomena  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > nothingness, non-existence, non-reality, illusory nature (of all worldly phenomena), Śiśupāla-vadha (Title); Sarvadarśana-saṃgraha (Title) [ ID=220097 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899).
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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