käheä

Käheä is a Finnish adjective that describes something harsh, severe, intimidating, or grim. It is commonly used to convey roughness or menacing character in sounds, voices, and atmospheres, rather than simply loudness or intensity.

In practice, käheä is often attached to sensory impressions such as sounds and voices. Examples include käheä ääni (a hoarse, raspy voice), käheä nauru (a grim or hollow laugh), and käheä humina (a rough, rasping hum). It can also describe environments or moods, for instance käheä sää (harsh weather) or käheä tunnelma (a somber, foreboding mood). The word carries a negative, unsettling nuance and is frequently found in literary, journalistic, and descriptive writing to evoke unease or sternness.

Grammatically, käheä is an attributive or predicative adjective that inflects for number and case, with typical degrees such as käheä, käheämpi (more harsh), and kähein (most harsh). The adverbial form is uncommon in everyday language and not routinely used to modify verbs.

Etymology of käheä is not definitively established; it is considered a native Finnish word with usage attested in the Finnish language for at least a century, and it does not have widely recognized cognates in neighboring Finnic languages.

See also: Finnish adjectives, raspy voice, harsh descriptions, mood in Finnish literature.