pikkajalises

Pikkajalises is an Estonian grammatical form: it is the inessive singular of the adjective pikkajaline, which means long-tailed. In usage, pikkajalises functions as a modifier describing a noun in the inessive case (for example, indicating “in a long-tailed [something]”). As a word form, it is not a separate concept or term by itself, but rather a grammatical inflection that occurs when describing something that is long-tailed and being positioned or described within a larger phrase governed by the inessive case.

In Estonian, adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in number and case. The inessive singular ending for adjectives commonly appears as -ses, so pikkajalises exemplifies this pattern: it marks the adjective to align with a noun in the inessive case. The same adjective can take other endings to reflect different cases or numbers (for example, pikkajalised in plural forms corresponding to other cases), but pikkajalises specifically signals “in a long-tailed” when paired with a suitable noun.

Usage notes: because pikkajaline describes a tail-related trait, pikkajalises is most likely to be found in descriptive or scientific writing, where researchers describe specimens or contexts with a noticeable tail-related feature. In ordinary prose, producers of natural history descriptions or linguistic analyses may employ this inflected form to maintain grammatical harmony within a sentence.

Etymology and formation are straightforward in Estonian: pikkajaliline is formed from pikk (long) and the tail-related element in compound adjectives, with -ine-style morphology. The inessive form pikkajalises is one of several inflected variants used to fit the sentence structure.

See also: Estonian grammar, adjectives, inessive case, long-tailed as a descriptive trait.