Mantereiden

Mantereiden is the genitive plural form of the Finnish noun mantereet, meaning continents. The form is used when something relates to or belongs to multiple continents, or when describing attributes of continents collectively. In Finnish, genitive plural is formed with the suffix -en, so mantereet becomes mantereiden.

The term appears mainly in scientific, geographic, and historical writing, as well as in descriptive prose about global features. In everyday language, people often use the nominative plural mantereet for continents in a general sense, and reserve mantereiden for phrases that express possession or specific relationships, such as geographic or geological characteristics.

Examples of usage:

- mantereiden geologia — the geology of the continents

- mantereiden rajat — the borders of the continents

- mantereiden ilmasto — the climate of the continents

Notes:

- The concept of continents is most commonly taken to be seven in modern geography, though historical and scholarly debates sometimes discuss alternative groupings.

- Mantereiden is a typical example of Finnish genitive plural, a grammatical form used to link a noun to another noun or noun phrase to express possession or association.