Yksiköttömiä

Yksiköttömiä is a Finnish adjective form meaning unitless or without units. It is used to describe quantities, values, or measurements that do not carry an attached unit. The term is most commonly found in scientific, mathematical, and engineering texts, where it helps distinguish between dimensionless numbers and quantities that have explicit units.

The word derives from yksikkö (unit) with the negative morpheme -ttöm- meaning “without,” combined with the standard adjective ending -ä in its plural partitive form yksiköttömiä. As an adjective, yksiköttömiä agrees with the noun it describes in number and case; for example, yksiköttömiä arvoja (unitless values) or yksiköttömiä suureita (dimensionless quantities).

Usage and examples:

- Nämä luvut ovat yksiköttömiä. (These numbers are unitless.)

- Tutkimus käsittelee yksiköttömiä suureita, kuten suhdelukuja ja indeksisarjoja. (The study deals with dimensionless quantities, such as ratios and index series.)

- Mittauksissa on siirrytty yksiköttömiin arvoihin, jotta vertailut ovat helpompia. (The measurements have been converted to unitless values to facilitate comparisons.)

Grammatical notes:

- Yksiköttömiä is the plural partitive form; nominative plural would be yksiköttömät (unitless, used with plural subject in the nominative).

- The term remains technical and is more common in specialized prose than in everyday language. In non-technical contexts, writers may describe quantities as “ilman yksikköä” (without a unit) to avoid ambiguity.

See also:

- Yksikkö (unit)

- Mittayksiköt (measurement units)

- Dimensionless quantities (dimensionless or dimensionless numbers, depending on context)