Mantra

How to spell mantra

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mantra

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mantra mean?

1. nounA statement or slogan repeated frequently to express a guiding belief or principle.
2. nounA sacred word, sound, or phrase repeated in meditation or prayer to aid concentration.

Mantra in a sentence

• "under promise, over deliver" became the team's unofficial mantra.

• The meditation teacher gave each student a personal mantra to repeat silently.

• The coach repeated the same mantra before every match to focus the players.

• He chanted the ancient mantra softly during his morning practice.

Where does mantra come from?

Language of origin: Sanskrit

This word comes directly from Sanskrit mantra, which literally meant 'an instrument of thought'. It was formed from the verbal root man, meaning 'to think', combined with the suffix -tra, which marked an instrument or tool, so the whole word described a sound or formula used as a vehicle for the mind. In the Hindu and Buddhist traditions a mantra was a sacred verse, syllable, or phrase chanted or repeated during prayer and meditation. English borrowed the word in the early 1800s as Western scholars studied Indian religious texts, and it kept its Sanskrit spelling almost unchanged. Over the twentieth century the meaning broadened far beyond religion, so that any oft-repeated motto or guiding statement could be called a mantra. The unusual -ntr- cluster and the final -a (rather than -er) are clues to its Sanskrit origin, which helps explain why the spelling looks the way it does.

How the word is built

• man- (root meaning 'to think')
• -tra (Sanskrit instrumental suffix, 'tool or instrument')