tagastaja

Tagastaja is an Estonian noun meaning "the one who returns" or "returner." It is formed from the verb tagastama, meaning "to return" or "to give back," with the agent-noun suffix -ja. The term denotes the person performing the act of returning something, rather than the item being returned.

In everyday use, tagastaja can refer to anyone who returns goods, such as a customer returning a product to a shop under a return policy, or a library patron returning a borrowed book. It can also appear in legal or commercial texts to specify the party that initiates or completes a return of goods or funds. The exact meaning is determined by context, and formal documents may clarify the role with qualifiers like tagastaja isik or tagastamise osapool.

Tagastaja is related to but distinct from tagastus, the noun for the act of returning, and tagastama, the verb. The word is gender-neutral and commonly understood in Estonian-speaking contexts. In practice, its use tends to be most frequent in consumer, logistics, and library settings, where the notion of returning items is routine.