sõna

Sõna is the Estonian word for "word," a basic unit of language used in both speech and writing. It denotes a meaningful unit that can function as a separate lexical item within a sentence. In everyday Estonian, sõna is used to refer to individual words and to discuss language itself, such as in dictionaries, language education, and literature.

Etymology: Sõna is cognate with the Finnish sana and related words in other Finnic languages, descended from a Proto-Finnic root for linguistic units. The Estonian term is written with the umlauted vowel õ, a distinctive feature of Estonian orthography.

Usage and forms: In Estonian, the plural form is sõnad. The word appears in many compound forms, such as sõnaraamat (dictionary) and sõnavara (vocabulary). Examples: "See sõna on raske" (This word is difficult) and "Ma ei mõista seda sõna" (I don’t understand this word). In linguistic discussions, sõna can denote a lexical item that can be inflected or declined within sentences.

See also: The concept of sõna is foundational in Estonian linguistics and education, and it has cognates in other Finnic languages, notably Finnish sana.