karakteristisen

Karakteristisen is the genitive singular form of the Finnish adjective karakteristinen, meaning characteristic or distinctive. It is used when the adjective’s meaning is applied to a noun that is in a case requiring genitive, such as to express possession or association with a characteristic feature.

In practice, karakteristisen appears most often in phrases describing features or properties. Common expressions include karaktestinen piirre (characteristic feature) and karakteristiset ominaisuudet (characteristic properties). For example: Lajin karakteristisen piirteen havaitseminen on keskeistä lajien tunnistamisessa. Here, the phrase refers to a defining feature of the species.

Morphology and usage notes: karakteristinen can take comparative and superlative forms, yielding karakteistisempi (more characteristic) and karakteristisin (most characteristic). The genitive singular form, karakteristisen, is used with nouns that are themselves in the genitive, as in lajin karakteristisen piirteen mukaan (according to the characteristic feature of the species).

Etymology and meaning: the word karakteristinen derives from the root karakte‑ (characteristic) with the Finnish adjectival suffix -inen, forming a word that means “characteristic” or “distinctive.” The inflected form karakteristisen reflects Finnish grammar rules for adjectives in the genitive singular. In English, the closest equivalent is “characteristic” or “characteristic feature,” a sense retained in Finnish technical and scientific writing.

See also: karakteristiset piirteet, piirre, ominaisuus, karaktеristiikka (related terms for characteristics in Finnish).