liitsõnade

Liitsõnad are a fundamental word-formation category in Estonian. They are formed by combining two or more independent stems to create a new lexical item whose meaning is often not directly deducible from its parts. Liitsõnad are used to express new concepts, describe material or origin, indicate purpose or relationship, and they form a large part of everyday vocabulary as well as technical language.

Liitsõnad can be written in several orthographic forms. The most common are kinnised liitsõnad, which are written as a single word, such as raamatukogu (library), raudtee (railway), lillepood (flower shop), tööriistakast (toolbox), maailmavaade (worldview), and koolimaja (school building). They can also appear as avatud liitsõnad, where the components remain separate words but function as a unit in meaning. Hyphenated forms, or side-liitsõnad, are used in certain long or clarifying terms and in specific stylistic or technical contexts.

Semantically, liitsõnad often encode a specific relationship between the components, such as material, purpose, or function. They tend to be productive in Estonian, allowing speakers to coin new terms by combining existing stems. In inflection, many liitsõnad behave as a single word: affixes attach to the whole compound rather than to individual parts, although some hyphenated or less integrated forms may retain more of the original components in certain grammatical environments.

Examples illustrate the variety and utility of liitsõnad: raamatukogu (library), raudtee (railway), lillepood (flower shop), tööriistakast (toolbox), maailmavaade (worldview), koolimaja (school building), omatehtud (home-made). Together, liitsõnad contribute to the efficiency and expressiveness of Estonian, supporting precise terminology and flexible everyday communication.