Taustasyyn

Taustasyyn is a Finnish compound word meaning "underlying cause" or "background reason." It derives from tausta (background) and syy (cause), and is used to refer to root factors that lie behind an event, condition or phenomenon rather than its immediate or surface-level causes. The form "taustasyyn" appears as a genitive or in certain inflected constructions; the basic nominative form is taustasyy.

The term is common in everyday and specialized language. In medicine and public health it is used similarly to "etiology" to denote contributing factors or predisposing conditions. In social sciences, policy discussion and journalism it identifies structural, historical or contextual reasons for observed outcomes. In technical fields such as risk analysis or systems engineering, it may indicate root causes examined in incident investigations.

Taustasyy is not a strict technical term with a single formal definition; its precise meaning depends on context and may range from proximate contributing factors to deep-seated systemic causes. Related expressions include juurisyy (root cause), taustatekijä (background factor) and syy-seuraus (cause-and-effect). When translating, common equivalents are "underlying cause," "background reason," or "root cause," chosen according to context and specificity.