tasottaa

Tasottaa is a Finnish verb meaning to level, to make even, or to bring to a common standard. The core idea is to remove unevenness or differences so that two or more things share the same height, value, or condition. The word is formed from taso, level, with the causative/pertaining -ottaa suffix, giving a sense of causing the leveling action.

In everyday and professional use, tasottaa typically refers to physical leveling as done in construction, surveying, and carpentry. This includes bringing a surface to horizontal or uniform elevation, for example leveling a floor, leveling a foundation, or leveling terrain with tools such as a spirit level or laser level. The term is commonly found in work instructions, project plans, and technical reports where precise elevations matter.

Tasottaa is also used in a figurative sense to describe making things more uniform or comparable, such as standardizing values, balancing differences, or reducing disparities. For instance, discussions about tasottaminen of wages or income differences may appear in policy or economic contexts, where the aim is to create a more even distribution or a common baseline.

Related forms include taso (level), tasoitus (leveling or smoothing), and tasoittaa (to level). The verb is widely understood in Finland across construction, engineering, and everyday language, and it can denote both concrete physical actions and more abstract efforts to standardize or harmonize conditions.