yksikäsitteisen

Yksikäsitteisen is a Finnish term applied in philosophy, linguistics and terminology studies to describe a concept or term that denotes a single, well-defined meaning. The concept is used to distinguish terms with one clear reference from those that are polysemic or have several related meanings. In practice, a yksikäsitteinen term aims to minimize ambiguity by anchoring its sense to a single concept, though exact usage and interpretation can vary between authors and disciplines.

Etymology and form: the word is built from yksi (one) and käsite (concept) with the suffix -inen, yielding yksikäsitteinen. In compound phrases, the genitive form appears, for example yksikäsitteisen käsitteen määritelmä or yksikäsitteisen termin määrittely. The related forms include yksikäsitteisen, yksikäsitteistä, etc., depending on grammatical case.

Usage and contexts: the label is most common in discussions of semantics, ontology, and technical terminology where precision matters. It is often invoked to describe glossaries, dictionaries, and ontological schemas that assign a single referent to a term. The term can also appear in methodological sections to signal a preference for unambiguous definitions over multi-interpretive terms.

Example sentences: Tämä käsite on yksikäsitteinen, ja sen merkitys on määritelty tarkasti. Tutkimuksessa suositaan yksikäsitteisen terminologiaa, jotta tulokset eivät riipu tulkinnasta. See also: moniselitteisyys, monimerkityksellisyys, monosemia (Finnish equivalents of polysemy/monosemy in linguistic terminology).

The term is specialized and mainly found in Finnish scholarly texts on semantics and terminology.