hakija

Hakija is a Finnish noun meaning a person who makes an application or a claim to an authority, organization, or court. The term covers a broad range of situations in which someone seeks something by formal process, such as a job, a permit, a benefit, or a ruling. The commonly used English equivalents are applicant or claimant. The word is formed with the root hake- “to seek” and the agent suffix -ija.

Usage examples include työnhakija (a job seeker), apurahahakija or stipendihakija (grant or scholarship applicant), and turvapaikan hakija (asylum seeker). In social security and administrative contexts, hakija refers to someone who applies for benefits or permissions, for example eläkehakija (pension applicant) or sosiaalituen hakija. In legal settings, hakija can denote the party that initiates proceedings by filing a claim or an application; the recipient of the action is typically the vastaaja or osapuoli.

You can encounter compound forms that specify the field or type of request, such as rakennusluvan hakija (applicant for a building permit) or hakemuksen jättävä hakija (the applicant who submits the application). The term emphasizes the act of seeking through formal channels rather than the outcome.

Notes: Hakija is neutral and widely used across Finnish administrative, legal, and everyday language. The counterpart of hakija is not fixed; it depends on context (e.g., työnantaja for employer, viranomainen for authority, vastaaja for respondent).