harmi

Harmi is a Finnish noun commonly translated as "pity," "regret," "annoyance," or "sorrow." In everyday Finnish it expresses mild displeasure or the sense that something unfortunate has occurred; a frequent colloquial phrase is "on harmi," meaning "it's a pity" or "that's too bad." The related verb harmittaa means "to irritate" or "to regret," and the adjective harmillinen conveys that something is regrettable or unfortunate.

The word appears in a range of idiomatic uses and can convey both emotional regret and minor annoyance depending on context and intonation. It is used across registers from informal conversation to written Finnish, though stronger words are chosen for more severe grief or anger. English equivalents vary by nuance; harmi often maps to "shame" or "pity" when expressing regret, and to "annoyance" when indicating irritation.

Linguistically, harmi is part of the Finnish lexical set for negative affect and has cognates or similar forms in related Finnic languages, where corresponding words convey sorrow or grief. Beyond its lexical meaning, Harmi is occasionally encountered as a surname or place name in Finland and neighboring countries, though such uses are relatively uncommon.