johdannaisen

Johdannainen is a term in Finnish linguistics referring to a derived word, one that is created from another word (the base) through derivation. The form johdannaisen is the genitive singular, used to indicate possession or relation, as in “johdannaisen sanan merkitys” (the meaning of the derived word).

Derivational processes in Finnish commonly use affixes or, to a lesser extent, compounding to form new words. Derivation can change a word’s lexical category and meaning. Examples of typical derivational patterns include suffixes such as -ija (to form agent nouns from verbs, e.g., opiskella → opiskelija, student), -inen (to form adjectives from nouns, e.g., kivi → kivinen, stony), and -lainen (to form demonyms or adjectives from place names, e.g., Suomi → suomalainen, a Finn or Finnish person). Other common forms include -kirja- or -llinen to produce related adjectives like kirjallinen (literary) from kirja (book).

In use, johdannaiset appear in dictionaries and morphological analyses to show how a word is built from a base. They illustrate how Finnish expands vocabulary by adding meaning or shifting grammatical category, rather than creating entirely new roots. The study of johdannainen examples helps clarify how word formation operates in Finnish, including productivity (how readily new derivations can be created) and semantic shifts.

Notes: In mathematics, the term derivative is typically derivaatti in Finnish, not johdannainen, which is reserved mainly for linguistic word formation.