elollisiin

Elollisiin is a Finnish term that functions as the illative plural form of the adjective elollinen, meaning animate or living. It is used in contexts where the noun it modifies refers to living beings in a plural sense, often to express direction or relation toward those beings, as in phrases like elollisiin olentoihin (to living beings) or elollisiin ominaisuuksiin (to the properties of living beings). It contrasts with elottomiin, the plural form used for inanimate things. The word is commonly found in academic, philosophical, ecological, and ethical writing, where distinctions between animate and inanimate matter are relevant, or in legal texts that discuss the status or rights of living beings.

In biology and ethics, elollisiin appears in discussions about phenomena that pertain to living systems, such as metabolism, growth, behavior, or moral consideration. The term helps to delimit discourse to living organisms rather than inanimate objects.

Etymology and form: elollisiin is derived from elollinen (animate, living) with the inflectional suffixes that mark plural and the illative case, yielding the form used to indicate direction toward or into the living beings in question.

See also: elollinen, elottomat, elolliset, Finnish grammar.