Finnish

How to spell finnish

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce finnish

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does finnish mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Finland, its people, or its culture.
2. nounThe national language of Finland.

Finnish in a sentence

• adjective

  Finnish design is famous for its clean lines and functional furniture.

• noun

  She studied finnish for two years before moving to Tampere.

• adjective

  The long finnish winter brings only a few hours of daylight near Helsinki.

• noun

  The instructions were printed in finnish as well as Swedish.

Where does finnish come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built on Finn, the old name for the people of Finland, plus the familiar Germanic suffix -ish, which English uses to form adjectives of nationality such as English, Swedish, and Spanish. The name Finn itself is ancient and of Germanic origin; it appears in early sources as a label for the northern peoples and was carried into English well before the modern nation took shape. The element -ish goes back to Old English -isc, meaning 'of the nature of' or 'belonging to', the same ending that survives in words like childish and foolish. The defining spelling trap is the doubled n: because Finn ends in a double consonant, the adjective keeps both letters, giving 'Finnish' rather than the single-n 'finish'. That doubling is exactly what sets it apart from its everyday homophone finish, meaning to complete, which descends from an entirely different Latin root for 'end'.

How the word is built

• Finn (a native of Finland)
• -ish (adjective suffix meaning 'belonging to' or 'in the manner of')

Words that sound like finnish

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• finish: To bring an activity or task to its end, or to complete it.