Tunnusmerkkeinä

Tunnusmerkkeinä is the plural essive form of tunnusmerkki, a Finnish noun meaning a distinguishing feature or characteristic. The essive case expresses “in the capacity of” or “as,” and in plural form it is used when several features are described as serving to distinguish or identify something. Thus tunnusmerkkeinä translates roughly to “as distinguishing features” or “as identifying characteristics.”

Formation and function: The base noun is tunnusmerkki, with the plural tunnusmerkit. The essive plural suffix yields tunnusmerkkeinä. This form is used in descriptive or classificatory prose to indicate features that function as identifiers for a category, object, or phenomenon. The singular counterpart is tunnusmerkkinä or tunnusmerkkiin liittyen, depending on context.

Usage: Tunnusmerkkeinä is common in academic, scientific, or descriptive writing when a set of features is used to define or differentiate things. It allows the writer to present multiple characteristics collectively. For example: “Laatikon tunnusmerkkeinä voidaan pitää koon, materiaalin ja muodon yhtäläisyyksiä.” In general, the phrase attracts attention to features that help distinguish the subject from others.

Related terms: The base form tunnusmerkki, the plural tunnusmerkit, and the related concept of tunnusmerkki (characteristic). Grammatical alternatives include the singular essive tunnusmerkkinä (as a distinguishing feature) and other case forms used for different syntactic purposes. See also Finnish essive and classificatory vocabulary.