personaalsed

Personaalsed is an Estonian adjective used to describe things related to a person or to individuals. It is formed from the root personaal- and conveys the idea of personal rather than general. In standard Estonian, more common terms for related concepts are isiklik and isiku- compounds; personaalsed is less frequent and may appear in certain formal or niche texts.

In practice, personaalsed occurs in compounds such as personaalsed omadused (personal attributes) and personaalsed andmed (personal data), though these phrases are uncommon compared to isikuandmed for personal data or isiklikud omadused for personal characteristics. When encountered, personaalsed tends to appear in settings that aim to emphasize person-specific aspects, or in texts influenced by non-standard or multilingual styles. Writers often opt for more widely used forms to avoid ambiguity in official documents.

Etymology traces personaalsed to the Estonian adaptation of the Latin root personal-, but its precise historical development in Estonian lexicon is not uniformly documented. Because isikuandus and isikulised terms are standard in privacy and HR contexts, personaalsed is generally considered a secondary or stylistic variant rather than a primary term.

See also: Isikuandmed, Isiklik, Personal data, Privacy.