Meanings
nountulpa (plural tulpa or tulpas or (often in sense 2) tulpae)
plural tulpas · often plural tulpae
- BuddhismA magical creature that attains corporeal reality, having been originally merely imaginary.
When the year was up, the tulpa began growing. It lost its fear of its master and began taking on new forms of its own. It ceased to run errands ....
1966, Nikos Kazantzakis, England: A Travel Journal, page 110 - A type of thought-form regarded as capable of independent action, with a persistent personality and identity; a kind of modern imaginary friend.
Origin
- Sanskritनिर्मित“build”
- Tibetanསྤྲུལ་པ“emanation, magical creation”
- Englishtulpa
Borrowed from Tibetan སྤྲུལ་པ (sprul pa, “emanation, magical creation”), equivalent to a calque of Sanskrit निर्मित (nirmita, “build”) or निर्माण (nirmāṇa, “build”).
More words from Tibetan, Sanskrit
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian тулпа
- тулпа (tulpa)magical creature that attains corporeal reality, having been imaginary
Japanese トゥルパ, タルパ
- トゥルパ (turupa)magical creature that attains corporeal reality, having been imaginary
- タルパ (tarupa)modern type of imaginary friend
Portuguese tulpa
- tulpamagical creature that attains corporeal reality, having been imaginary
Russian тульпа
- тульпа (tulʹpa)modern type of imaginary friend
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tulpa
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
tulpa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tulpa
MLA
“tulpa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tulpa. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tulpa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tulpa.
Source: tulpa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.