Läpinäkyvää

Läpinäkyvää is a form of the Finnish adjective läpinäkyvä, which means transparent in both a literal and a figurative sense. It describes something through which light passes with minimal scattering, such as glass or clean water, but it is also used to denote clarity, openness, or understandability in information, processes, or governance.

Etymology and related terms: the word is built from läpi meaning through and näkyvä meaning visible. The base form is läpinäkyvä; common inflected forms include läpinäkyvää (partitive singular) and läpinäkyvyys as a noun meaning transparency or openness. Related concepts include avoimuus (openness) and selkeys (clarity).

Usage and contexts: in physical contexts, läpinäkyvä describes materials that allow light to pass through with little distortion, such as lasi (glass) or vesi (water). In social, organizational, and informational contexts it characterizes openness and accountability—läpinäkyvää toimintaa (transparent operations), läpinäkyvyyden lisääminen (increasing transparency), or demokraattinen, läpinäkyvä tiedon jakaminen (transparent sharing of information). The noun läpinäkyvyys is often used when discussing standards, governance, reporting, or corporate practice.

Grammatical note: läpinäkyvää is the partitive singular form used in certain constructions, while läpinäkyvä is the basic form used in other contexts. Finnish speakers also use synonyms such as avoimuus and the related term läpinäkyvyyden taso to discuss degrees of openness.

In summary, läpinäkyvää functions both as a grammatical form of a physical property and as a descriptor for clarity and openness in various domains, reflecting the core concept of transparency.