न क्तिचि दीर्घश्च

Operational rule vidhi

Before the affix क्तिच् the above roots (वन and तनादि) neither drop their nasal nor lengthen their root-vowel.

Word by word (padaccheda)

Indeclinable न avyayaRight context क्तिचि saptamī · ekavacanaSubstitute / term prathamā · ekavacanaIndeclinable च avyaya

Indeclinable An avyaya such as च "and", वा "optionally", न "not".
Right context Saptamī (7th case): "when X follows", the operation applies to what precedes (1.1.66 तस्मिन्निति निर्दिष्टे पूर्वस्य). Also a condition or domain ("in the sense of").
Substitute / term Prathamā (1st case): in operational rules, the substitute or the thing introduced; in definitions, the term or its referent.

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Full reading

न क्तिचि च

Pāṇini leaves out words that carry over from earlier sūtras. Expand to see the rule as a reader actually understands it.

Commentary

Before the affix क्तिच् the above roots (वन and तनादि) neither drop their nasal nor lengthen their root-vowel.
The above roots i. e. anudattopadesa, ending in a nasal, and वन and तनादि, do not lose their nasal before क्तिच्. Thus यन्ति꣡, तन्ति꣡, वन्ति꣡ ॥ The lengthening would have taken place by 6.4.15, when the nasal was not elided : that also is prohibited.

Śrīśa Chandra Vasu, The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (1897), via ashtadhyayi.com.