Etymology

སྤྲུལ ‎(sprul, “to juggle, to make phantoms appear, to change, to transform”) +‎ སྐུ ‎(sku, “body; the person of Buddha; image, statue of Buddha”).

Equivalent to Sanskrit निर्माणकाय ‎(nirmāṇakāya), Chinese 應身, 化身, Mongolian хувилгаан ‎(huvilgaan).

Pronunciation

• Old Tibetan:
  • IPA^(key): /*sprul.sku/ (reconstructed)
• Ü-Tsang
  • Tibetan Pinyin: zhue^f-gu^f
  • (Lhasa) IPA^(key): /ʈ͡ʂyː˥˥.ku˥˥/