katkestust

Katkestust is a noun in several Uralic languages, most notably Finnish and Estonian, that denotes an interruption, break or discontinuation of an activity, service or process. It is used both as a general term for a temporary halt and as an element in compound words describing specific kinds of outages or stoppages.

Linguistic formation and meaning: the word is derived from verbs meaning "to break" or "to interrupt" (for example Finnish katketa and Estonian katkema) with a nominalizing suffix. Its basic senses include interruption of a continuous action, temporary suspension of service, and cessation of a signal or connection. Translations into English include "interruption", "outage" and "break".

Common usage: katkestust appears in everyday and technical contexts, for example to describe power outages, service interruptions, pauses in transmission, or procedural halts. It is frequently combined with other nouns to specify the interrupted item (for example compounds to indicate electricity or water interruptions in practical usage). In formal registers other near-synonyms or specialized terms may be preferred depending on context.

Related terms and distinctions: similar words such as katko (Finnish) or katkestama (Estonian verb form) appear in related constructions; nuances between these forms depend on register and grammatical role. The term is primarily descriptive and neutral in tone.