པ་ལགས
palak
The Tibetan word for "dad" is པ་ལགས (palak).
པ་ལགས is an informal way to refer to a father.
Meaning: informal: a father (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
palak
Did you know?
- Tibetan uses a complex system of honorifics where the word for 'father' changes completely if the father is a high-ranking lama or a member of the nobility.
- In some traditional Tibetan contexts, referring to one's own father using high honorifics when speaking to a stranger can be seen as boastful or incorrect, as modesty is valued.
- While པ་ལགས is used for 'dad', Tibetan has distinct words for 'father' that vary not only by politeness but by whether the person is a biological father or a paternal figure in a monastic lineage.
Example conversation
Norbu and Chödrön are talking about their parents at home.
- ནོར་བུ། Norbuཔ་ལགསག་ག་པར་ཕྱིན་ནམ།pa lags ga par phyin nam?Where did dad go?
- ཆོས་སྒྲོན། Choesronཁོང་ཚོང་ཁང་ལ་ཕྱིན་པ་རེད།khong tshong khang la phyin pa red.He went to the store.
- ནོར་བུ། Norbuཔ་ལགསལ་ག་ཅི་དགོས་སམ།pa lags lal ga ci dgös sam?Does dad need anything?
- ཆོས་སྒྲོན། Choesronཆུ་གཅིག་དགོས་སྲིད།chu gcig dgös srid.He might need some water.
