Ajakestus

Ajakestus is an Estonian noun that denotes the length of time something lasts. In English, it is most commonly translated as duration or time span. The term is used to quantify how long an event, process, or state persists from its beginning to its end.

It appears in everyday language as well as in scientific, administrative, and technical contexts. Ajakestus can refer to the duration of a concrete activity, the time span of a project, or the persistence of a condition. When expressing ajakestus, time units such as seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, or years are typically used.

Relation to related terms: Ajakestus is closely related to kestvus (durability or duration) and ajaperiood (time period). However, ajakestus emphasizes the temporal extent—how long something lasts—rather than the quality of the thing or its calendar interval.

Examples: In a study report, the ajakestus of the trial was six months. In meteorological data, the ajakestus of the observation period was 30 days. The word also appears in official forms, project plans, and statistical descriptions where a precise time span needs to be stated.