vahingoittavan

Vahingoittavan is the genitive singular form of the Finnish present active participle vahingoittava, which means “causing harm” or “injurious.” The base verb is vahingoittaa, meaning to injure or to harm. In Finnish, participles function as adjectives and take different endings to agree with the noun they modify. Thus vahingoittava becomes vahingoittavan in the genitive singular, and other forms vary by case and number.

Usage and meaning

Vahingoittavan describes something that causes harm, damage, or injury. It is common in safety, health, legal, and risk contexts to specify agents, factors, or processes that produce harm. Examples of phrases in common use include vahingoittavan vaikutuksen minimoimiseksi (“to minimize the harmful effect”), vahingoittavan toiminnan estäminen (“the prevention of the injurious activity”), and vahingoittavan aineen pitoisuus (“the concentration of the injurious substance”). The form changes with grammatical case, number, and definiteness, so other forms include vahingoittava (nominative), vahingoittavaa (partitive), and so on.

Relation to related terms

Vahingoittavan is closely related to vahingoittava (the basic form, meaning “injurious” or “harm-causing”). A closely related adjective is vahingollinen, which also conveys harm or damage but is often used to describe harmful effects or properties rather than causation. Finnish also uses noun-based compounds such as vahinkovaara or vahingon aiheuttava to express similar ideas, depending on context.

Etymology

The word derives from vahingoittaa (to injure/harm) with the present active participle suffix -va/-vä, forming vahingoittava, and the genitive singular ending -n for vahingoittavan.