Kehittelevä

Kehittelevä is a Finnish adjective derived from the verb kehittää, which means "to develop" or "to improve". The word literally translates to "developing" or "progressive" in English. It is used to describe something that is in the process of being developed, undergoing improvement, or evolving toward a more advanced state.

In linguistic terms, kehittelevä belongs to the group of adjectives formed by adding the suffix‑ä to the verb stem + -e‑n (käänteinen). It is a present participle that expresses an ongoing action and thus denotes a dynamic state rather than a static characteristic. Its counterpart, kehitetty, functions as a past participle and indicates something that has already been developed.

Typical contexts forkehittelevä include technology, finance, and policy. For example, kehittelevä ohjelmisto refers to software still under development; kehittelevä rahoitus describes financing schemes that are being designed. The term can also be used metaphorically to describe evolving cultural or societal trends, e.g., kehittelevä yhteiskunta meaning a society that is in the process of change.

The word appears frequently in contemporary Finnish media and academic writing, especially in reports about innovation, infrastructure projects, and policy planning. Because it describes a transitional state, it is often paired with adverbs such as "hitaasti" (slowly) or "tehokkaasti" (effectively) to qualify the pace or quality of development. In official documents the phrase kehittelevä is sometimes followed by "projektia" or "laitetta" to specify the object under development. This usage reflects the Finnish tendency to use participial adjectives to convey precise temporal information in a concise form.