Painutaja

Painutaja is a noun in the Estonian language that translates roughly to “one who bends” or “bender.” It is derived from the verb painutada, meaning “to bend” or “to flex,” with the agentive suffix -ja forming an agent noun.

In applied contexts, painutaja most often refers to a device or tool used to bend materials such as metal or plastic. In metalworking and sheet-metal fabrication, the term can describe bending equipment, including hand tools and machines that form right or angled bends along a workpiece. The word can therefore denote both human and mechanical agents involved in bending processes, depending on context.

In Estonian texts, painutaja is used neutrally and without specific connotations of expertise; the English equivalent “bender” should be used carefully due to potential ambiguity. The term is primarily employed in Estonian-language technical or industrial writing and is not widely used as a loanword in English-language sources.