Vaurioituneen

Vaurioituneen is the genitive singular form of the Finnish past participle vaurioitunut, meaning damaged. In Finnish, participles used as adjectives decline to match the case of the noun they describe, so vaurioituneen appears when the noun is in the genitive (or in phrases where the determiner requires a genitive ending). The form is commonly found in technical, architectural, medical, and everyday language to indicate that something has sustained damage.

Usage and meaning

Vaurioituneen functions as an adjective describing objects, structures, tissues or other entities that have suffered damage. It is used to form noun phrases such as vaurioituneen laitteen korjaus (the repair of the damaged device), vaurioituneen rakennuksen korjaus (the repair of the damaged building) or vaurioituneen kudoksen analyysi (the analysis of the damaged tissue). The term conveys a state resulting from damage rather than the process of becoming damaged.

Grammar notes

The base verb is vaurioitua, meaning to become damaged, with vaurioitunut as the past participle. The genitive singular form vaurioituneen is applied to adjectives that modify a noun in genitive. Finnish adjectives and participles decline to agree with number and case, so other cases of the same participle appear as vaurioituneesta (elative), vaurioituneeseen (illative), vaurioituneessa (inessive), and so on. The stem vaurio- derives from vaurio, meaning damage or harm.

Etymology and related terms

Vauriotreated: from vaurio, damage, plus the verb vaurioitua and its participle vaurioitunut. Related terms include vaurioituminen (the process of becoming damaged) and vaurioitunut (damaged, as an adjective). The word is used when describing damaged items in a precise, formal register.