muodostuman

Muodostuman is the genitive singular form of the Finnish noun muodostuma, which means formation, structure, arrangement, or organization. The headword muodostuma refers to the result or product of forming as well as to a collective arrangement or a natural or manufactured unit. The genitive singular muodostuman is used to express possession or association, similar to “of the formation” or “the formation’s” in English.

The term is used across multiple fields. In geology, muodostuma commonly denotes a stratigraphic or lithological unit, referring to a recognizable body of rock with specific characteristics. In broader contexts, muodostuma can describe any coherent assembly of parts that constitutes a whole, such as an architectural or biological structure. The phrase muodostuman kerros, for example, would indicate a layer belonging to or produced by the formation. In scientific writing, it appears in compound terms to specify attributes of a formation, such as its extent, composition, or boundaries.

Etymologically, muodosta means “to form” in Finnish, and the noun-forming suffix -ma yields muodostuma, with muodostuman as the genitive singular. Like other Finnish noun forms, muodostuma is declined to reflect case and number, while muodostuman specifically marks possession or association in the genitive.

See also: muodostuma (formation/structure in general), geologiset muodostumat (geological formations), Suomen kielen taivutus (Finnish inflection).