Repeillä

Repeillä is a Finnish verb that has two primary senses. The first, literal sense describes tearing or ripping of materials such as fabric, paper, or other objects, indicating that they have developed tears or are torn apart. This use is common in everyday language when talking about damage or wear.

The second sense is figurative and relates to laughter. In this usage, repeillä describes a situation in which laughter erupts suddenly and intensely, often in social contexts. This meaning is colloquial and widely understood in spoken Finnish.

In terms of grammar, repeillä behaves like many other Finnish verbs and follows standard conjugation patterns. The exact forms depend on tense, mood, and subject, so the verb is active in both its literal and figurative senses. The word is well established in everyday Finnish and appears in both colloquial and written contexts.

Etymologically, repeillä derives from a root associated with tearing, and its figurative expansion to laughter reflects a common pattern in Finnish where physical actions or states extend metaphorically to emotional or social phenomena. For learners, it is useful to distinguish the two senses from context: physical damage to objects versus an eruption of laughter.