häda

Häda is a Finnic noun meaning misfortune, trouble, or calamity. In Finnish, it denotes adverse events or hardship and is more common in literary or historical registers than in everyday speech. The word survives in Estonian with a closely related meaning and appears in cognate forms in other Finnic languages, indicating a common Proto-Finnic origin. Etymology is traced to a root meaning harm or distress, and related terms include harmi, vahinko, and onni as its opposite.

In Swedish, häda is also a verb meaning to blaspheme or to desecrate what is sacred; this usage is primarily found in religious or formal contexts and is considered archaic in contemporary Swedish, though it remains in dictionaries and liturgical language.

In Finnish linguistics, häda can appear in compounds and older texts, and the concept of misfortune has been central in folklore, poetry, and moral literature. The term is generally avoided in colloquial Finnish in favor of more common words like harmi or epäonni.