pienehköön

Pienehkön is the genitive singular form of the Finnish adjective pienehkö, which means "slightly small" or "somewhat small." It is used to describe size with a moderate degree of smallness, typically before a noun in possessive or descriptive constructions.

Etymology and form: The word pienehkö is derived from the root pieni (small) with the derivational suffix -ehkö, yielding a gradable, nuanced meaning. The base form is pienehkö; its inflected form pienehkön appears in the genitive singular and is used to modify a following noun in phrases like pienehkön koon esineet (“items of somewhat small size”).

Usage: The term is neutral and commonly understood in descriptive or technical Finnish, including catalogs, manuals, and prose that discuss dimensions. In everyday speech, speakers may opt for alternatives such as hieman pieni or pienempi depending on the desired nuance and formality.

Examples: Se on pienehkön kokoinen esine. Pienehkön koon esineet mahtuvat pieniin tiloihin. These examples illustrate how pienehkön koon functions to express a modest size when describing objects.

Related terms: pienehkö is related to pieni, pieni, hieman, koko and koon, with pienehkö serving as a milder, less absolute contrast to the plain pieni.

Overall, pienehkön functions as a concise way to convey that something is not just small, but somewhat smaller than typical, suitable for subtle size descriptions in Finnish.