puukoteloon

Puukoteloon is the illative case form of puukotelo, a Finnish noun meaning knife sheath. Puukotelo refers to the container or cover designed to hold a puukko, a traditional Finnish knife. The illative form puukoteloon expresses movement toward or into the sheath, and is commonly used with verbs of placing, moving, or inserting.

The noun puukotelo is a compound built from puukko (knife) and kotelo (sheath). In Finnish, compounds can be inflected as a whole, so puukoteloon indicates “into a knife sheath.” The illative suffix -on is one of several locative cases that express direction or destination, and it is used when describing actions such as placing or inserting objects.

Usage examples:

- Laita puukko puukoteloon. (Put the knife into the knife sheath.)

- Hän asetti puukon puukoteloon ennen retkelle lähtöä. (He placed the knife into the knife sheath before departing for the trip.)

- Turvallisuuden vuoksi puukko tulisi säilyttää puukoteloon. (For safety, the knife should be stored in the knife sheath.)

In Finnish grammar, puukoteloon belongs to the illative case, which contrasts with inessive puukotelossa (in the sheath) or elative puukoteloesta (out of the sheath). The form demonstrates how compound nouns participate in case inflection to convey directional meaning.

See also: Finnish illative case, Finnish compound nouns, knife sheath terminology.