Hi, Nina,

> > kammakilesa - kamma (action, deed) + kilesa (lust, impurity):
> > action of defilement, vice;

> Nina: kammakilesaa seems to me a pure dvanda compound, let's ask
> Derek.

I'm flattered that you would ask me, but embarrassed that I don't
have any special expertise to offer!

Kamma- here seems to function just as a sort of qualifying adjective.
It tells us what kind of kilesaa, among all possible kinds of
kilesaa, are meant here. Kamma-kilesaa - "action-defilements" (except
that kamma isn't usually an adjective).

In general, there are 3 kinds of compounds (that I know of):

(1) Tappurisa, where there is a case relationship between the two
parts, the most common being genitive

(2) Dvandva, a single word referring to two distinct things. In
Sanskrit these are often dual, e.g., raaga-dvesau, attachment-and-
aversion. Of course, we don't have the dual endings in Pali, just
singular and plural.

(3) Bahubbhiihi, where the thing referred to is external to the two
parts. Bahubbhiihi literally is "much-rice," I think, but it refers
to a person who has much rice (i.e., a wealthy person) and not to the
much rice itself.

If I had to put kamma-kilesaa into one of the categories it would
have to be a tappurisa compound with a genitive relationship between
the kamma and the kilesaa - "defilements *of* action." But I think
that simply seeing kamma- as a qualifying adjective for the kilesaa
is best.

Derek.