Kellonkaltaisella

Kellonkaltaisella is a Finnish inflected form of the adjective stem kellonkaltais-, meaning clock-like. It functions as the adessive singular form (ending -lla/-llä/-llä) and is used to describe a noun that has a clock-like appearance or character. It is a grammatical form rather than a separate word with a standalone meaning, and it appears in descriptive or design-oriented text.

Etymology and morphology: kellonkaltais- combines kellon, the genitive of kello (clock), with kaltais-, derived from kaltaisuus and the adjective kaltaisen meaning “like” or “similar to.” The adessive suffix -lla marks location or manner, so kellonkaltaisella translates roughly as “on/with a clock-like [feature].” The form is typically attached to a noun through a noun phrase, for example describing appearance or design.

Usage: Kellonkaltaisella is used when the writer wants to express that something has a clock-like quality in its appearance or design. It is common in descriptive Finnish, especially in product descriptions or stylistic analyses. Examples include phrases such as laite on kellonkaltaisella muotoilulla varustettu (the device is equipped with clock-like design) or kello kellonkaltaisella ulkonäöllä varustettu (a clock whose appearance is clock-like). These constructions illustrate how the adessive form relates to a noun to convey literal or figurative likeness to a clock.

Relation and variants: Kellonkaltaisella is related to other kaltaisuus forms and to the more common Kellomainen, which also means “clock-like” in attribute position. The choice between kellonkaltaisella and related forms depends on the required case and how the noun phrase is built in the sentence.