sanakirjan

Sanakirja (the genitive form sanakirjan is used to indicate something related to a dictionary) is a reference work that lists words of a language in alphabetical order and provides information about meanings, pronunciation, usage, and often etymology. It serves as a tool for language learning, translation, writing, and linguistic research. The form sanakirjan is the genitive, used in Finnish to indicate something related to or belonging to a dictionary.

Dictionaries come in several types: monolingual dictionaries explain words in the same language, bilingual dictionaries map terms between two languages, and specialized dictionaries cover fields such as law, medicine, or technology. Learner's dictionaries focus on common usage and simplicity, while etymological dictionaries trace word origins. Over time, dictionaries have evolved from manuscript glossaries to printed volumes and now to digital databases and apps.

A typical entry includes the headword, pronunciation, part of speech, a definition or translations, usage notes, and example sentences. Many entries also provide etymology, inflection information, synonyms, and cross-references to related words. In addition, corpus data and frequency information are increasingly used to guide word meaning and relevance in modern dictionaries, including those in Finnish.

In Finnish lexicography, sanakirja is central, with dictionaries published for Finnish-Finnish, Finnish-Swedish, Finnish-English, and other language combinations, as well as specialty dictionaries for dialects and terminology. Digital and open-access dictionaries expand accessibility and enable rapid updates.