Peruutussana

Peruutussana is a term used in Finnish discussions about language and user interfaces to describe a word or short phrase that signals the cancellation or reversal of a previous action. The form is derived from peruuttaa (to reverse, undo) and sana (word). The term is not a standard linguistic category in major Finnish dictionaries and is mainly encountered in informal discussions, manuals, and design writings.

In discourse and interface design, a peruutussana may function as a backchannel or regulatory device enabling a speaker or user to retract a commitment, restart a task, or halt an ongoing process. Its use is highly context-dependent and varies across domains, applications, and individual systems. In practice, designers emphasize clarity, immediacy, and distinctiveness to reduce accidental triggers.

In computing and voice-operated systems, a peruutussana may serve as a dedicated cancellation command. Typical requirements include reliable recognition, minimal ambiguity with ordinary speech, and a clear separation from the expected input. Some implementations reserve short, command-like phrases (for example, a word or phrase such as "peruuta" or another distinct cue) that users can utter to abort an action.

Because it's not a standardized term, how a peruutussana is defined and implemented can differ between products and communities. It is often discussed alongside other control mechanisms such as confirmation prompts, undo actions, and cancel buttons.

See also: undo command, cancellation phrase, confirmation prompts.