Korkoa

Korkoa is the partitive singular form of the Finnish noun korko, meaning interest in a financial sense. It refers to the return earned on deposits or the charge applied on borrowed money, and it is used when talking about an indefinite amount of interest or when the interest is the object of a verb.

In Finnish grammar, korkoa typically appears as the direct object of verbs such as maksaa (to pay), saada (to receive), tuottaa (to yield), or kerätä (to accumulate). Examples: Pankki maksaa korkoa. Säästötili tuottaa korkoa. Korkoa kertyy tilille. Maksatteko korkoa? Lainan korkoa maksetaan kuukausittain.

The noun korko is also used to refer to interest more generally, including the concept of the interest rate. For precise reference to the rate itself, the term korkoprosentti is commonly used. Korko can be combined in compounds to describe related financial terms, such as korkokatto (interest cap) or korkotuki (interest subsidy). These compounds illustrate how korko interacts with policy or product names in Finnish financial language.

Notes: korkoa should not be confused with korkki, the Finnish word for a bottle cork. While korko and korkki share a common phonetic root, they belong to different semantic fields—finance versus a physical stopper.

See also: korko, korkoprosentti, korkokatto, korkotuki, korkki.