nainen

Nainen is a Finnish noun meaning "woman," referring to an adult female human. It is the standard term used in everyday speech and writing to describe women in general or a specific woman. Finnish does not have grammatical gender, but nais- semantics distinguish female persons, with numerous compounds and phrases built around the word, such as naistenpäivä (International Women’s Day) and naispuolinen (female, of the female sex).

The word Nainen is of Finnic origin and has cognates in related languages, most notably Estonian naine. The connection to Proto-Finnic is reflected in similar terms across Finnic languages, which helps explain the close semantic and lexical relationship of these words today.

Inflection and forms in Finnish include several cases. In the singular: nominative nainen; genitive naisen; partitive naista. In the plural: nominative naiset; genitive naisten; partitive naisia. These endings show how the noun changes across common grammatical cases while preserving the core meaning. In usage, näiden tapauksien kautta nainen can function across a wide range of syntactic roles, from subjects to objects and beyond.

In contemporary Finnish, nainen appears in countless expressions, from descriptive phrases like nuori nainen (a young woman) to broader social and cultural contexts such as discussions of gender and rights. The term remains a neutral, everyday reference to women and serves as a basis for many language and culture-related terms.