höyhentä

Höyhentää is the Finnish verb meaning "to comb or to ill-weave". In the context of textiles, the word typically refers to the untangling of hair or wool, ensuring they lie flat and are free of knots. This process prepares fibers for subsequent steps in the manufacturing process, such as spinning or weaving. Beyond textiles, the term also applies to the more figurative action of straightening out something that has become knotted or disordered. Höyhentää is also used in the phrase "hoi-ta" meaning "to untie or release a knot in something.

The phrase höyhentää is often translated to English as "to carder" when used in the context of fibrous materials. However, in more general terms, it can be translated to "to card" or "to groom". This is a result of the similar action performed on hair or wool, mimicking grooming or making tidy. The Finnish verb höyhentää and its transitive form, is also closely associated with sheep shearing, where the herders' task is to untangle the wool to prepare it for valuable wool fibers which are then sold to textile manufacturing companies.

In colloquial Finnish, höyhentää is often used as a verb to indicate the positive thing of making things tidy or visually arranged in order. An example sentence would be "Emmä voi höyhentää tornia kuvista enää". This means "I cannot untangle/make order of this demolished cup anymore". People typically use the command action of this verb and wish the first person to accomplish this albeit intervening task.