infektiivisten

Infektiivisten is a Finnish word form that functions as the genitive plural of the adjective infektiivinen, meaning infectious. In Finnish, adjectives decline to agree with the nouns they modify, and the genitive plural ending -isten marks a possessive or relational construction such as “of the infectious” or “the infectious ones” within a larger noun phrase.

The form commonly appears in medical and scientific writing when describing groups or categories of infectious things. For example, in phrases like infektiivisten tautien torjunta (the prevention of infectious diseases) or infektiivisten taudinaiheuttajien tutkimus (the study of infectious pathogens), infektiivisten modifies a following plural noun in the genitive case.

usage and interpretation

Infektiivisten does not denote a standalone concept; its meaning derives from the noun it modifies and the broader syntactic context. It is part of a larger system of Finnish inflection where adjectives take genitive endings to link to the governed noun in possessive-like constructions. The same pattern can be seen with other adjectives in -inen that shift to -isten in the genitive plural.

etymology

infektiivinen is derived from the root infect- related to infection, with the common Finnish adjectival suffix -inen forming infektiivinen. The -isten ending is a standard genitive plural form for adjectives in Finnish, reflecting grammatical agreement rather than a separate lexical item.

see also

Finnish language, Finnish grammar, genitive case, medical Finnish, taudit (diseases), tautien torjunta (disease control).