Epätosia

Epätosia is a Finnish adjective form used to describe statements or information that are not true. It is the plural partitive form of epätosi, which means false or untrue. In Finnish, adjectives decline to match the number and case of the noun they modify, so epätosi becomes epätosia before a plural noun in the partitive, as in epätosia väitteitä (false statements).

Etymology and usage

The word combines the negating prefix epä- with the root tosi, meaning true or fact. Epätosia is used to refer to multiple false items, but the concept can also be expressed with other phrases such as epätosi väite (a false claim) or epätosi tieto (false information). It is commonly found in journalism, academic writing, and everyday language when evaluating accuracy.

Nuanced meaning

Epätosi does not inherently imply intentional deception; it can describe errors, misconceptions, or misinformation. It is distinct from valhe (lie), which implies deliberate falsehood. In fact-checking and media literacy contexts, epätosia väitteitä or epätosia tietoja are categories used to flag information that has been shown to be incorrect.

Context and examples

Common collocations include epätosia väitteitä, epätosi tieto, and epätosia tutkimustuloksia. For example: “Tämä väite on epätosi” or “Useat poliittiset väitteet ovat epätosia.” The term remains a general, neutral descriptor suitable for discussing accuracy in public discourse and information quality.