hintelä

Hintelä is a Finnish adjective meaning slender, lean, or delicate in build or form. It describes someone with a slim or lightly built physique, as well as objects that are thin or light in construction. The nuance conveyed by hintelä often includes fragility or refined slenderness, rather than a simple measurement of size. It does not inherently imply ill health.

In usage, hintelä differentiates from related adjectives. Ohut emphasizes mere thinness, hoikka often suggests tall, elegant slenderness, and laiha can imply underweight or unhealthy conditions. Hintelä is more likely to convey a subtle physical delicacy or elegance. It is used for people, animals, and inanimate things such as branches, fabrics, or structures when a slender form is notable. It appears in both everyday speech and literary writing.

The word is native Finnish and is written with a lowercase initial letter. It inflects like other Finnish adjectives to agree with the noun it describes in number and case. It is primarily descriptive and is less common in highly technical language, where more precise terms might be preferred. In contrast to more general descriptors, hintelä carries a nuanced sense of fragility or refined slimness rather than just size.