Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

-lainen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Remove ads
See also: lainen and -läinen

Finnish

Etymology 1

    From Proto-Finnic *-lainën; equivalent to -la (toponym suffix) + -inen. Cognate with Estonian -lane, Veps -laine.

    Attested since at least the Bible translation of 1548, which uses it in Mark 7.26 (Grekilainen) and Luke 4.27 (Syrialainen), among other places.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /-lɑi̯nen/, [-lɑ̝i̯ne̞n]
    • Does not automatically cause secondary stress

    Suffix

    -lainen (front vowel harmony variant -läinen, linguistic notation -lAinen)

    1. Combined with a place name, forms the noun for the inhabitant of a place; or an adjective meaning "of or relating to (the place)".
      Viro (Estonia) + -lainenvirolainen (Estonian)
      Savo (Savonia) + -lainensavolainen (Savonian)
    2. Combined with a name, forms an adjective for a member of an organization or other defined group, a follower of philosophy etc.
      German Hegel + -lainenhegeliläinen (Hegelian)
      kokoomus + -lainenkokoomuslainen
    3. Combined with a common noun, forms nouns for people characterized by this noun.
      eläke (pension) + -laineneläkeläinen (pensioner)
      vuokra (rent) + -lainenvuokralainen (tenant, lessee)
    4. Forms various diminutives; also used in surnames.
      repo ((dated) fox) + -lainenrepolainen (fox) (nickname, poetic)
    Usage notes
    • Usually appended to the genitive or nominative singular stem.
    • Place names already ending in -la often do not duplicate the suffix, and their adjective forms may be formed with simply -inen (e.g. Karjalakarjalainen, not ˣkarjalalainen).
    Declension

    Noun:

    More information nominative, genitive ...
    More information first-person singular possessor, singular ...

    Adjective:

    More information nominative, genitive ...
    More information first-person singular possessor, singular ...
    Derived terms

    Etymology 2

      From compounds with laji (kind, sort) + -inen (compare lailla). The origin as a separate word can still be seen in the imperfect accommodation to vowel harmony. The suffix has been reinforced and influenced by the somewhat similar sounding -llinen (e.g. dialectal millinen for millainen).

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /-ˌlɑi̯nen/, [-ˌlɑ̝i̯ne̞n]
      • Rhymes: -ɑinen
      • Syllabification(key): lai‧nen
      • Hyphenation(key): lai‧nen
      • automatically causes secondary stress, due to the fact that this suffix was originally a component in a compound

      Suffix

      -lainen

      1. Combined with a pronoun, forms an adjective relating to the kind or nature of a person or an object.
        Synonyms: -moinen, kaltainen
        eri + -lainenerilainen (different)
        eräs + -laineneräänlainen (kind of (a))
        mikä + -lainenminkälainen / millainen (what kind of?)
        sama + -lainensamanlainen (similar, of the same kind)
        se + -lainensellainen (such, of that kind)
        tämä + -lainentällainen / tälläinen (colloquial) (of this kind)
        viiden (five) + -lainenviidenlainen (of five kinds) (usually used in the plural)
      2. Combined with the genitive form of an adjective, forms an adjective indicating a smaller degree of the quality than that described by the original adjective.
        Synonym: -hko
        heikko + -lainenheikonlainen (relatively weak)
        oikea + -lainenoikeanlainen (of a right kind (but not the right one))
        viileä + -lainenviileänlainen (sort of cool)
      Usage notes
      • As this suffix is historically a compound, it is not subject to vowel harmony in the standard language; with the exception of the word yhtäläinen, it always has back vowel harmony. In colloquial use it may have a front vowel variant, if not the speaker has not been explicitly taught to avoid that, which proves the rule moot.
      • The modifier is in the genitive case if it can be inflected as such.
      Declension
      More information nominative, genitive ...
      More information first-person singular possessor, singular ...
      Derived terms

      Anagrams

      Remove ads

      Wikiwand - on

      Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

      Remove ads