multiaastane

Multiaastane is an Estonian adjective meaning lasting for several years or extending over multiple years. The word is formed from the base aasta (year) with the prefix multi-, and it is used in contexts such as projects, budgets, forecasts, and plans that span more than one year. In standard Estonian, the common term for this concept is mitmeaastane; multiaastane appears mainly in technical, semi-formal, or loaned formulations and is sometimes encountered in compound nouns.

In practice, multiaastane is used similarly to multi-year or multi-annual in English. Examples include multiaastane projekt (a project spanning several years), multiaastane prognoos (multi-year forecast), and multiaastane periood (multi-year period). In botany and horticulture, the term mitmeaastane taim is the established expression for perennial plants, and multiaastane taim would be considered non-standard or stylistically unusual.

Etymology: the word combines the Estonian prefix with the international multi- prefix, reflecting cross-linguistic borrowing. See also mitmeaastane, pikaajaline, and long-term.