epäreilun

Epäreilun is the genitive singular form of the Finnish adjective epäreilu, meaning unfair or not fair. In Finnish, adjectives decline to agree with the noun they modify, so epäreilu becomes epäreilun in the genitive. The form is used to attribute unfairness to a noun, for example in phrases like epäreilun kilpailun säännöt, “the rules of the unfair competition,” or epäreiluun menettelyyn, “to an unfair procedure.” The illative form epäreiluun can also appear when the adjective describes a noun in a motion or directional context, as in epäreiluun ratkaisuun, “to an unfair solution.”

Epäreilu and its inflected forms are common in formal and everyday Finnish when discussing justice, competition, or bias. The corresponding noun for the concept is epäreiluus (unfairness). The adjective can be used in various figures of speech and in both written and spoken language, from news reporting to legal or ethical discussions. In discourse about fairness, epäreiluus is often contrasted with oikeudenmukaisuus (fairness or justice).

Etymology traces epäreilu to the prefix epämääräinen epä- meaning not, combined with reilu (fair). The word belongs to standard Finnish vocabulary and follows typical adjectival declension patterns, allowing it to appear in multiple cases to fit the grammatical role of the noun it describes.