Lefedést

Lefedést is the accusative singular form of the Hungarian noun lefedés, which denotes the act or result of covering something. The word can be used for literal coverings, such as placing a lid, sheet, or layer over an object, as well as for more figurative notions of coverage or concealment. In everyday language it can refer to protective coverings, masking, or the act of ensuring something is not exposed.

In mathematics and related disciplines, lefedés has a specific technical sense. It describes a covering of a set by a family of sets, meaning that the union of the covering sets contains the target set. For example, an open cover (nyílt lefedés) uses open sets, and a finite subcover is a finite subcollection that still covers the original set. These ideas are central to topics such as topology and compactness, where properties of coverings help characterize spaces.

Beyond pure mathematics, lefedés appears in contexts such as geography, telecommunications, and insurance. There it often translates as coverage, referring to the extent to which a service, area, population, or risk is encompassed by a system, network, or policy. For instance, signal coverage describes how well a network reaches a given area, while insurance coverage refers to which risks and events a policy protects against. The precise meaning of lefedés depends on the field, but the core notion remains the same: something that covers, spans, or protects.

Etymology traces lefedés to the verb lefedni, with the prefix le- indicating completion or spread and fed meaning to cover; the suffix -és forms the abstract noun.