muusikute

Muusikute is the genitive plural form of muusik, the Estonian word for musician. It roughly means “of musicians” and is used to indicate possession, association, or attribution in noun phrases. As a premodifier, it can modify another noun to express a relationship, as in muusikute liit (“the Musicians’ Union”) or muusikute festival (“the festival of musicians”).

In Estonian grammar, the genitive plural serves to link the head noun with its modifier, signaling belonging or relevance. The typical declension pattern for muusik is: nominative singular muusik, genitive singular muusiku, nominative plural muusikud, genitive plural muusikute. The form muusikute appears in various cases when describing groups or things associated with musicians, such as muusikute tööde nimekiri (“the list of works by musicians”) or muusikute kontsertmuusika (“concert music of musicians”).

Usage notes: muusikute is not a proper noun and does not require capitalization. It is commonly found in neutral, descriptive, and formal prose to denote a relationship to musicians, organizations related to musicians, or events connected with them. The word illustrates Estonian’s flexible noun phrase structure, where a genitive plural modifier sits before a head noun to convey the intended meaning.