käiguvaheline

Käiguvaheline is an Estonian term used in mechanical engineering and automotive contexts to denote an intermediate gear or a transitional state between two fixed gear ratios in a transmission. The word combines käik, meaning gear or shift, with vaheline, meaning intermediate or between.

In manual transmissions the term may refer to the phase during a shift when the current gear is being disengaged and the next gear has not yet fully engaged, creating an intermediate alignment of the gear train. Some technical descriptions discuss a deliberately created käiguvaheline state to allow smoother engagement or torque transfer, especially in stepped or non-synchromesh gearboxes. The concept is also used in discussions of sequential or dual-clutch transmissions to describe the momentary reconfiguration of engaged gears or the preselection of a next ratio.

Usage of käiguvaheline varies by author and context; it is not a strictly standardized term in automotive engineering Estonian and may be encountered as a descriptive phrase rather than a formal category. In some texts it is used synonymously with “intermediate position” or to describe transitional dynamics during shifting rather than to denote a fixed gear.

See also: Gearbox, Transmission, Shifting, Neutral (neutraal), Intermediate gear.