Dear Gregory,

first of all, theravaada is a compound making up of

1. thera: elder, in Buddhism the word usually refers specifically to a
senior monk, a senior nun is referred to as a therii.
2. vaada: teaching.

theravaada is a tappurisa compound meaning theraana.m-vaadaa,
teachings of the elders.

Strictly speaking, theravaadin is still Pali, but not theravaadan.
This is because vaadin is an adjective in Pali, but vaadan is not part
of the Pali vocabulary. However, in English, theravaadin/theravadin
refers to a Buddhist of the Theravada tradition. The original meaning
of theravaadin, whatever it may be, is hence "lost in translation".
One way around it is to treat theravaadin as a bahubbiihi compound,
and give it the new modern meaning.

metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Gregory wrote:

This is a question regarding proper Paali-English grammar. Which is
the correct spelling, Theravadin or Theravadan? In the past, I've
refrained from using these terms in order to avoid perpetuating poor
grammer.