Muuttajan

Muuttajan is the genitive singular form of the Finnish noun muuttaja, which means “migrant,” “settler,” or “one who moves.” The base term refers to a person who moves from one place to another, either within a country (internal migration) or across borders (international migration). In everyday usage, muuttaja can be used neutrally to describe someone who has moved, regardless of the reason.

In practice, the more common term for someone who has moved to a new country for settlement is maahanmuuttaja (immigrant). Muuttaja tends to be broader and less specific to international migration, and it can appear in descriptive or sociological contexts as well as in factual statements about movement and relocation.

The word is formed from the verb muuttaa, meaning “to move” or “to change,” with the agent suffix -ja. Its grammatical forms include nominative muuttaja, genitive singular muuttajan, partitive muuttajaa, and plural muutajat, with genitive plural muutajien. The form muuttajan is used to indicate possession or relation, as in “muuttajan asema” (the migrant’s status) or “muuttajan taustat” (the migrant’s background).

See also: maahanmuuttaja, muuttoliike, internal migration, immigration terminology.

Note: In Finnish discourse, varten muuttujiin liittyvät termit are employed in linguistics and demography, while official policy language more often uses maahanmuuttaja or tiettyä statuskausia koskevia ilmauksia.