Other forms: mantras
A mantra is a phrase repeated over and over as a guide or in meditation. Repeat the mantra, his usual mantra, a corporate mantra.
In Hindu and Buddhist practice the sound itself is held to matter, not only the meaning, which is why the syllables are kept in the original language. In ordinary English a mantra is a phrase somebody repeats until it stops meaning anything. The Sanskrit relates to thinking.
1nounmantraA phrase repeated over and over as a guide or in meditation.
“'Keep it simple' became her mantra while she was planning the wedding.”
mantra is a phrase.
Sanskrit mantra comes from a root meaning to think, related to the English mind.
Proto-Indo-European
*men- — to think
Proto-Indo-Iranian
*mántras
Sanskrit
मन्त्र
English, today
mantra
Borrowed from Sanskrit मन्त्र, from Proto-Indo-Iranian mántras, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European men- (“to think”). Related to mind.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA