Partikulaarinen

Partikulaarinen is a Finnish adjective meaning relating to a part, a specific instance, or a single case, rather than to the whole. It translates to “particular” or “specific” in English and is used to distinguish particular cases, phenomena, or entities from general or universal ones. In everyday usage, partikulaarinen can describe something localized, limited, or idiosyncratic.

In academic contexts, the term appears across disciplines. In mathematics and statistics it is common in phrases such as partikulaarinen ratkaisu, meaning a particular solution to a problem or differential equation, contrasted with yleisratkaisu (the general solution). In philosophy and theology, partikulaarinen is used to discuss particular truths, events, or entities versus universal or abstract concepts; for example, partikulaarinen näkemys (particular view) or discussions of partikulaarinen etiikka focusing on specific cases or communities.

In other fields such as linguistics or social sciences, partikulaarinen describes phenomena that are specific to a case, locale, or group, as opposed to broad generalizations. The word is a standard Finnish loanword in academic writing and dictionaries. Its use reflects an ongoing analytical distinction between the particular and the general, helping to specify whether a statement or model applies to a single instance or to a wider class.