kotiutua

Kotiutua is a Finnish verb meaning to settle in at a place or to return to one’s home. It is also used in healthcare to describe the discharge of a patient from a hospital or care facility to their home. The term is formed from koti, meaning home, with the verbal suffix -utua, conveying the idea of becoming at home or establishing a home in a place.

In everyday use, kotiutua describes moving to a new home and beginning to feel at home there, or returning to one’s home region after living elsewhere. Examples include statements like “Hän kotiutui uuteen kaupunkiin” (he settled into a new city) or “Hän kotiutui takaisin syntymäkaupunkiinsa” (she returned to her birthplace). The sense of returning home is common in personal life, migration, and accommodation contexts.

In healthcare, kotiutuminen refers to discharge from a hospital or facility and the transition to home-based care. Example: “Potilas kotiutui sairaalasta” (the patient was discharged from the hospital). The related noun kotiutuminen denotes the act or process of discharging or settling in, and it can also describe the broader process of becoming settled in a new environment.

Conjugation notes: present tense forms include kotiudun, kotiudut, kotiutuu; past tense includes kotiuduin, kotiuduit, kotiutui. The word is versatile and widely understood in standard Finnish, with both literal and metaphorical uses surrounding home, settlement, and care transitions.