kääriytyi

Kääriytyi is the past tense form of the Finnish verb kääriytyä, which describes the act of winding, curling, or wrapping oneself or something around another object. The sense covers physical curling or tucking in, such as a person pulling a blanket around themselves or a plant or animal winding around a support. It can also be used metaphorically to describe being tightly enclosed or compacted in a space.

In usage, kääriytyi is common for describing people, animals, and objects that have curled up or wrapped themselves. Examples include a person who wakes in the morning and kääriytyi lämpimän viltin ympärille and fell asleep, or a snake that kääriytyi oksan ympärille. A cat can kääriytyi vilttinsä ympärille, seeking warmth. The construction often uses ympärille or ympärilleen to indicate the thing around which the subject winds itself, but other expressions such as ympärilleen, ympär tightness or enclosure are also encountered depending on the context.

Grammatically, kääriytyä is an intransitive verb, and kääriytyi is the third-person singular past tense form. It is frequently used with animate subjects but can describe inanimate wrapping as well, such as a coil or tangle forming around an object. The noun kääriytyminen denotes the act or process of curling up or wrapping.

See also: kääriytyminen, kääriä.