luottamuksellinen

Luottamuksellinen is a Finnish adjective meaning that something is to be treated as confidential or is based on mutual trust. It describes information, communications, or relationships that should be kept private and shared only with authorized persons. The term is commonly used for confidential information (luottamuksellinen tieto), confidential discussions (luottamuksellinen keskustelu), and confidential relationships (luottamuksellinen suhde), such as between a patient and a healthcare professional or between a lawyer and a client. It can also describe behavior or conduct characterized by trust and discretion.

In administrative and legal contexts, labeling a document luottamuksellinen signals restricted access and handling only by persons with appropriate authorization. The word is not a perfect synonym of salainen (secret); luottamuksellinen emphasizes discretion and the existence of a trust, whereas salainen refers to information that must be kept secret by law or policy. The adverb form is luottamuksellisesti.

Origin: derived from luottamus 'trust' + the suffix -ellinen, which forms adjectives meaning 'related to' or 'characteristic of.' In Finnish, various collocations exist such as luottamuksellinen tieto, luottamuksellinen keskustelu, and luottamuksellinen suhde, used in everyday language, media, and official documents to denote confidentiality and trust-based relationships.