äidit

äidit is the nominative plural of the Finnish noun äiti, meaning "mother." It is used to refer to two or more mothers, or to mothers as a group within a community. The term äiti is a native Finnish word; its exact historical origin is not definitively known.

In Finnish, nouns are declined for case and number. The nominative plural is äidit; common other forms include genitive plural äitien and partitive plural äitejä. Other cases in the plural include inessive äideissä and elative äideistä as examples of how the stem changes in different grammatical contexts.

Usage: Äidit appear in everyday speech about family life, childcare, and social groups. They may be referred to collectively when discussing mothers in a community, mothers' associations, or during conversations about parenting. The term denotes a female parent; Finnish grammar does not mark gender on nouns in the same way as many gendered languages.

Cultural context: In Finland, motherhood is one of several parental roles supported by social policies such as paid parental leave and child welfare services, which shape contemporary experiences of äidit and their families.