Kolaterális

Kolaterális is a Hungarian adjective that translates into English as “collateral” or “side.” It is used in several contexts. In legal and financial discourse, the word denotes assets or rights that serve as security for a loan or obligation; a collateral loan, for example, is backed by property, equipment, or other tangible items. In medical terminology, kolaterális refers to the collateral circulation in the body—alternative blood pathways that supply tissues when primary vessels are blocked. In a broader social or cultural sense, kolaterális can describe secondary effects or accompanying phenomena, such as “kolaterális hatások,” meaning unintended or ancillary effects that arise from a larger event.

The term derives from the Latin “collaterale,” meaning “lying beside” or “alongside,” and through French influence entered Hungarian with the same general notion of something added or accompanying. Kolaterális is often contrasted with “fő” (main) or “elsődleges” (primary) to signal that the described element is not the principal focus but rather a subsidiary component. The word is common in technical writing, official documents, and academic papers. While it is easily understood by Hungarian speakers, English-language texts usually replace it with collateral, side or ancillary, depending on the precise nuance.

In everyday usage, kolaterális might appear in phrases such as kolaterális következmények (collateral consequences) or kolaterális pikaj puha poszt (collateral postseason). The adjective remains gender-neutral and inflects regularly according to case and number in Hungarian grammar.