Juhuslikest

Juhuslikest is an Estonian grammatical form derived from the adjective juhuslik, meaning random or incidental. It is the elative plural form used with a plural noun to indicate origin or source “from random” or “of random.” In Estonian, adjectives agree with the nouns they modify, and juhuslikest appears whenever the noun is plural and in the elative case.

The form is common in academic, statistical, and journalistic contexts when describing data, sources, or phenomena that arise by chance rather than by design. For example, phrases like juhuslikest valikutest (from random selections) or juhuslikest sündmustest (from random events) convey a lack of intentional selection or control. Juhuslikust or juhusliku would be used in other cases or with different nouns.

Juhuslikest is not an adverb; the corresponding adverbial form is juhuslikult, which means “randomly” or “by chance.” The distinction between juhuslik and juhuslikest lies in grammatical agreement and case, not in meaning.

In usage, juhuslikest often appears in methodological descriptions, reports, or analyses where the randomness of sampling, observations, or incidents is being noted. It helps to specify that the referenced elements occurred by chance rather than by a deliberate process. Etymologically, the word stems from juhus, meaning chance or accident, with the suffix -lik creating the meaning “characterized by chance.”