materiaalisanan

Materiaalisanan is a term used in Finnish linguistic discussions to describe a class of nouns that designate materials or substances rather than individual objects. This category is often equated with English terms such as material nouns or substance nouns and includes words for liquids, metals, fabrics, minerals, and other raw materials used in making things.

Semantically, materiaalisanat express matter rather than discrete countable items. In many languages they behave as mass nouns: they do not readily take a plural form in everyday reference and are quantified with units or containers (for example liters of water, kilograms of gold, sheets of plywood). Some material nouns can appear in the plural when referring to different kinds or varieties of material (for instance various metals).

In Finnish, examples include vesi (water), kulta (gold), teräs (steel), puu (wood). They are typically used with partitive constructions or with explicit quantity expressions (liters, kilograms, or pieces) to indicate amount. In English practice, the same semantic class is described as material or substance nouns and shows similar behavior, though exact grammar differs across languages.

The concept appears in Finnish grammar and broader linguistics as a way to classify nouns by referent type and countability. Some authors treat materiaalisana as a subcategory of mass nouns, while others describe it as a distinct class naming materials. Consequently, terminology and boundaries may vary between works.