Elollinen

Elollinen is a Finnish adjective and, in some contexts, a noun meaning living or animate. In everyday speech and in scientific Finnish it is used to distinguish living organisms and life processes from inanimate matter.

Etymology: It derives from the verb elää, meaning “to live,” with the suffix -llinen, which denotes characteristic of or possessing. The form frequently appears in compounds such as elollinen olento (a living being).

Usage: In biology and ecology, elollinen describes organisms and other life-bearing systems; the opposite eloton means inanimate. In philosophy and the history of science, the term has appeared in discussions about what constitutes life and the criteria that separate the living from the non-living. While modern biology uses more specific terms (organism, cell, metabolism), elollinen remains a general descriptor in Finnish for life-related concepts.

In culture and literature, elollinen can describe things that seem animate or life-like, though everyday phrasing often favors elävä ("alive") or the noun phrase elollinen olento when referring to a concrete living being. The term also appears in educational and scientific writing to contrast life-bearing systems with non-living matter.

See also: eloton, elämä, biologia.