paikka

Paikka is a Finnish noun meaning place, location, site, or position. It can refer to a physical locale such as a city or a building, or to a more abstract sense such as one’s position within a system or sequence. Finnish marks location and direction through inflection, for example paikassa (in the place), paikalle (to the place), and paikasta (from the place).

Common compounds show its scope. Asuinpaikka denotes where someone lives, työpaikka denotes a workplace, and paikkakunta refers to a locality or municipality. Paikkakunnat are used in official contexts, while paikannimi refers to a place name—the proper name of a location rather than the place itself.

Grammatical usage includes locational forms such as paikan (of the place) and the case forms paikassa, paikasta, and paikalle. The term also appears in everyday expressions about belonging, for example löytää oman paikkansa, meaning to find one’s place in life or in a group. In planning, cartography, and administration, paikka is a standard label for a site or area within a larger region.

Although widely used in Finnish, paikka is primarily a general, non-technical term for location. It anchors discussion of residence, work, and geographic or administrative units, and it connects to related concepts such as place names (paikannimi) and localities (paikkakunta).