leviää

Leviää is a Finnish verb meaning to spread or to extend. It is the present tense, third-person singular form of the intransitive verb levitä. As an intransitive verb, leviää describes a process by which something becomes more widely distributed or more visible, without taking a direct object.

Etymology and related forms: leviää derives from the root levitä, which covers the sense of expansion or distribution. Finnish also has related verbs such as levittää (to spread something, a transitive form) and levittäytyä (to spread out or extend over an area). The noun form leviäminen refers to the spreading process itself.

Usage: leviää is commonly used to describe the growth or spread of phenomena, conditions, or influences. It is typical to speak of diseases, rumors, information, influence, or physical coverage spreading over space or time. Because it is intransitive, the subject of the sentence carries out the spreading without a direct object.

Examples:

- Tauti leviää nopeasti. (The disease is spreading quickly.)

- Huhut leviävät sosiaalisessa mediassa. (Rumors are spreading on social media.)

- Valo leviää huoneeseen. (Light spreads into the room.)

- Tiedon leviäminen voi olla hidasta. (The dissemination of information can be slow.)

In summary, leviää is the standard Finnish verb for describing something becoming widespread or extending its reach, used without a direct object and contrasting with transitive forms like levittää.