Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

tulku

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.61 in modern English

Syllables: tulku
IPA

9

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A high-ranking lama who can choose the manner of his or her rebirth.

Example Sentences

"The abbot is considered a tulku by Tibetans and called a living Buddha in Chinese — an especially revered figure who is believed to be the essence of a prominent religious leader."

Etymology

Borrowed from Tibetan སྤྲུལ་སྐུ (sprul sku, “tulku”).

Word Breakdown

Root: སྤྲུལ་སྐུ

Inflected Forms

tulkus (plural)

Synonyms

hutukhtu

Questions

What does tulku mean?: A high-ranking lama who can choose the manner of his or her rebirth.
Where does tulku come from?: Borrowed from Tibetan སྤྲུལ་སྐུ (sprul sku, “tulku”).

How to pronounce tulku

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “tulku”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “tulku”.
Repeat and practice — Say “tulku” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.