ehjäinen

Ehjäinen is a Finnish adjective meaning intact, undamaged, or in working condition. It describes objects, structures, or systems that have not suffered damage and remain functional after an event or over time. The term is commonly used in everyday language as well as in accounting, insurance, engineering, and safety contexts.

Etymology and form: ehjäinen is formed from the base adjective ehjä, meaning intact, with the suffix -inen that turns a noun or base into an adjective indicating a quality. In usage, ehjäinen can be used predicatively, as in talo on ehjä (the house is intact), and attributively in phrases such as ehjä esine or ehjä rakennus, though many speakers also simply say ehjä for “intact.” The word is the standard comparative form in contemporary Finnish for describing a preserved state.

Usage and context: The word is most common when assessing damage or the current condition of tangible items like vehicles, buildings, machinery, or equipment after accidents, disasters, or inspections. It is also used metaphorically to describe non-physical things that remain whole or valid, such as plans, data, or documents that have not been corrupted or discarded. Antonyms include vahingoittunut (damaged), rikkoutunut (broken), and katkennut (broken). Related terms include ehjäinen and the more general form ehjä, depending on the syntactic needs of the sentence.

See also: ehjä, in which the base meaning remains intact; related terms in Finnish for damage assessment and condition reporting.