Kuiva

Kuiva is a Finnish adjective meaning dry. It is used to describe the absence of moisture in things such as weather, air, soil, or food, and it can also describe surfaces or textures that lack dampness.

In everyday language, kuiva appears in phrases like kuiva sää (dry weather), kuiva ilma (dry air), or kuiva maa (dry soil). It forms comparative and superlative degrees in the standard Finnish way: kuivampi for “drier” and kuivin for “driest.” The adverbial form is kuivasti, which means “dryly” or “in a dry manner.” The word also participates in related compounds such as kuivaus (drying) and kuivatettu (dried).

Etymology and related terms: kuiva is a native Finnish adjective, with cognates found in other Finnic languages through shared roots in describing moisture and dryness. It is commonly contrasted with märkä (wet) and kostea (moist) in vocabulary describing weather, materials, and culinary contexts.

Usage notes: As a descriptive term, kuiva typically refers to the current state of dryness and can be combined with nouns in various cases to express specific meanings (e.g., kuivan pellon context). When discussing food, kuiva can describe dried products, such as kuivattu liha (dried meat) or kuivausprosess (drying process). In technical or meteorological contexts, kuiva may appear in precise terminology for humidity levels, drought, or arid conditions.

See also: kuivaus, kuivua, kuivain, kuivast.