Sairas

Sairas is a Finnish word with two primary uses: as an adjective meaning ill or sick, and as a noun referring to a person who is ill. As an adjective it describes health status, as in “Hän on sairas” (He/She is ill). As a noun, sairas denotes a sick person, with the plural form sairaat used for “the sick.”

In Finnish, sairas is closely related to the noun sair aus, which means illness or disease. The two forms share a common semantic field, with sairaus focusing on the condition itself and sairas on the person who has it. In everyday language, sairas is common and easily understood; in formal medical writing, the term potilas (patient) is often preferred when referring to someone under care, while sairas may appear in more general or descriptive contexts.

Related verbs include sairastaa, meaning to contract or fall ill, and sairastaminen, the act or process of becoming ill. Adjectival derivatives such as sairaslääkäri (a physician addressing illness) are less common, but the root remains productive in compound forms related to health and illness.

Sairas is part of standard Finnish vocabulary and is widely used in family conversation, media, and education. It contrasts with terms describing wellness or preventive health, such as terve (healthy) and terveys (health). The word’s simple, everyday character makes it a basic element in discussions of illness, healthcare access, and public health messaging.