Epäpuhdasta

Epäpuhdasta is a Finnish adjective formed from the negation prefix epä- and the adjective puhdas, meaning clean. The term describes something that is not clean or is impure. In Finnish, the form epäpuhdasta is the partitive singular and is used with nouns in contexts where the object is not counted or where the description implies an indefinite amount, such as liquids, air, or other substances.

Etymology and form: epä- is a productive negation prefix in Finnish, attached to puhdas (clean) to create epäpuhdas (not clean, impure). The word epäpuhdasta is the partitive singular inflection of epäpuhdas, and it commonly appears with mass or non-count nouns like vettä (water), ilmaa (air), or ruokaa (food). Examples: epäpuhdasta vettä, epäpuhdasta ilmaa, epäpuhdasta ruokaa.

Usage: Epäpuhdas is often used in formal, technical, or regulatory contexts such as quality control, environmental reporting, laboratory descriptions, or health and safety communications. In everyday language, more common descriptors for cleanliness are likainen (dirty) or epäpuhtaus (impurity) in noun form. Nonetheless, epäpuhdasta can appear in media or official texts to emphasize impurity or contamination.

Related terms: epäpuhtaus (impurity), epäpuhtaat (impure substances), sekä puhdas (clean) and puhtaus (cleanliness). The term conveys a state rather than a subjective judgment and typically appears when distinguishing clean from contaminated or unsafe conditions.