käikude

Käikude is the genitive plural form of the Estonian noun käik, a word with a range of related meanings centered on movement, passage, and sequence. The most common senses are a physical walk or pathway, such as a corridor or walkway; a route or line of travel; and an abstract step or stage in a process or plan. Because käik is polysemous, käikude can refer to any of these senses depending on context and accompanying descriptors.

In linguistic terms, käik is part of a Finnic word family related to going and passage, and it has cognates in Finnish and other Finnic languages that reflect movement, routes, or passages. This shared heritage helps explain the broad applicability of käik across different domains in Estonian.

Grammatical note: Käikude is the genitive plural form, used in phrases that translate to “of the walks/paths/steps” or “belonging to the walks/paths/steps.” It does not denote a single fixed entity on its own; rather, it appears as part of larger noun phrases.

Usage: In everyday Estonian, käikude may appear in contexts describing built environments (such as networks of corridors or passage routes) or in more abstract discussions of steps within a plan or procedure. The exact meaning is determined by surrounding words and overall context.

See also: Käik (the base word); Estonian language; Finnic languages.