"-sa" meaning in Finnish

See -sa in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Suffix

Forms: -sä [front-vowel]
Etymology: Probably originally from a dialectal variant of -isa (compare, for example, dialectal joutsa for joutuisa). The slang usage is probably an extension of the original use as an adjectival suffix. Etymology templates: {{etymid|fi|derivational}} Head templates: {{fi-affix-linguistic-notation|{{{stem}}}}} {{{stem}}}, {{fi-affix-linguistic-notation|{{{stem2}}}}} {{{stem2}}}, {{fi-affix-linguistic-notation|sä}} sA, {{head|fi|suffixes|front vowel harmony variant|-sä||-{{{stem}}}-||-{{{stem2}}}-||-{{{stem}}}-||-{{{stem2}}}-|linguistic notation|-sA||{{{comp}}}||{{{sup}}}|cat2=|f2nolink=1|f3nolink=1|f4nolink=1|f5nolink=1|f6nolink=1|f7nolink=1|f8nolink=1|head=}} -sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA), {{fi-suffix|adjective|noun|var=sä}} -sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)
  1. Forms some adjectives. Tags: morpheme
    Sense id: en--sa-fi-suffix-uqn0O4mG Categories (other): Finnish entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Finnish entries with incorrect language header: 19 40 41
  2. Forms slang nouns and adjectives, usually with clipping. Tags: morpheme
    Sense id: en--sa-fi-suffix-auh7XNkm Categories (other): Finnish entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Finnish entries with incorrect language header: 19 40 41
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: -sakka, -su
Etymology number: 1

Suffix

Forms: -sä [front-vowel]
Etymology: See -nsa. Etymology templates: {{etymid|fi|possessive}} Head templates: {{fi-affix-linguistic-notation|{{{stem}}}}} {{{stem}}}, {{fi-affix-linguistic-notation|{{{stem2}}}}} {{{stem2}}}, {{fi-affix-linguistic-notation|sä}} sA, {{head|fi|suffixes|front vowel harmony variant|-sä||-{{{stem}}}-||-{{{stem2}}}-||-{{{stem}}}-||-{{{stem2}}}-|linguistic notation|-sA||{{{comp}}}||{{{sup}}}|cat2=|f2nolink=1|f3nolink=1|f4nolink=1|f5nolink=1|f6nolink=1|f7nolink=1|f8nolink=1|head=}} -sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA), {{fi-suffix|adjective|var=sä}} -sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA), {{tlb|fi|dialectal}} (dialectal)
  1. alternative form of -nsa Tags: alt-of, alternative, dialectal, morpheme Alternative form of: -nsa
    Sense id: en--sa-fi-suffix-OPnwPG39 Categories (other): Finnish entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Finnish entries with incorrect language header: 19 40 41
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2
{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "-sakka"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "-su"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "2": "derivational"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably originally from a dialectal variant of -isa (compare, for example, dialectal joutsa for joutuisa). The slang usage is probably an extension of the original use as an adjectival suffix.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "-sä",
      "tags": [
        "front-vowel"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem2}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem2}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "sA",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "10": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "11": "",
        "12": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "13": "linguistic notation",
        "14": "-sA",
        "15": "",
        "16": "{{{comp}}}",
        "17": "",
        "18": "{{{sup}}}",
        "2": "suffixes",
        "3": "front vowel harmony variant",
        "4": "-sä",
        "5": "",
        "6": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "7": "",
        "8": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "9": "",
        "cat2": "",
        "f2nolink": "1",
        "f3nolink": "1",
        "f4nolink": "1",
        "f5nolink": "1",
        "f6nolink": "1",
        "f7nolink": "1",
        "f8nolink": "1",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "adjective",
        "2": "noun",
        "var": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "fi-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Finnish",
  "lang_code": "fi",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "19 40 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Finnish entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Forms some adjectives."
      ],
      "id": "en--sa-fi-suffix-uqn0O4mG",
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "19 40 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Finnish entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Forms slang nouns and adjectives, usually with clipping."
      ],
      "id": "en--sa-fi-suffix-auh7XNkm",
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-sa"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "2": "possessive"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "See -nsa.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "-sä",
      "tags": [
        "front-vowel"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem2}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem2}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "sA",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "10": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "11": "",
        "12": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "13": "linguistic notation",
        "14": "-sA",
        "15": "",
        "16": "{{{comp}}}",
        "17": "",
        "18": "{{{sup}}}",
        "2": "suffixes",
        "3": "front vowel harmony variant",
        "4": "-sä",
        "5": "",
        "6": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "7": "",
        "8": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "9": "",
        "cat2": "",
        "f2nolink": "1",
        "f3nolink": "1",
        "f4nolink": "1",
        "f5nolink": "1",
        "f6nolink": "1",
        "f7nolink": "1",
        "f8nolink": "1",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "adjective",
        "var": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "fi-suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "2": "dialectal"
      },
      "expansion": "(dialectal)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Finnish",
  "lang_code": "fi",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "-nsa"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "19 40 41",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Finnish entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of -nsa"
      ],
      "id": "en--sa-fi-suffix-OPnwPG39",
      "links": [
        [
          "-nsa",
          "-nsa#Finnish"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "dialectal",
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-sa"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Finnish adjective-forming suffixes",
    "Finnish dialectal terms",
    "Finnish entries with incorrect language header",
    "Finnish lemmas",
    "Finnish noun-forming suffixes",
    "Finnish suffixes",
    "Pages using catfix",
    "Pages with 13 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "-sakka"
    },
    {
      "word": "-su"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "2": "derivational"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably originally from a dialectal variant of -isa (compare, for example, dialectal joutsa for joutuisa). The slang usage is probably an extension of the original use as an adjectival suffix.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "-sä",
      "tags": [
        "front-vowel"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem2}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem2}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "sA",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "10": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "11": "",
        "12": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "13": "linguistic notation",
        "14": "-sA",
        "15": "",
        "16": "{{{comp}}}",
        "17": "",
        "18": "{{{sup}}}",
        "2": "suffixes",
        "3": "front vowel harmony variant",
        "4": "-sä",
        "5": "",
        "6": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "7": "",
        "8": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "9": "",
        "cat2": "",
        "f2nolink": "1",
        "f3nolink": "1",
        "f4nolink": "1",
        "f5nolink": "1",
        "f6nolink": "1",
        "f7nolink": "1",
        "f8nolink": "1",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "adjective",
        "2": "noun",
        "var": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "fi-suffix"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Finnish",
  "lang_code": "fi",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Forms some adjectives."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Forms slang nouns and adjectives, usually with clipping."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-sa"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Finnish adjective-forming suffixes",
    "Finnish dialectal terms",
    "Finnish entries with incorrect language header",
    "Finnish lemmas",
    "Finnish suffixes",
    "Pages with 13 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "2": "possessive"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "See -nsa.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "-sä",
      "tags": [
        "front-vowel"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "{{{stem2}}}"
      },
      "expansion": "{{{stem2}}}",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "sA",
      "name": "fi-affix-linguistic-notation"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "10": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "11": "",
        "12": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "13": "linguistic notation",
        "14": "-sA",
        "15": "",
        "16": "{{{comp}}}",
        "17": "",
        "18": "{{{sup}}}",
        "2": "suffixes",
        "3": "front vowel harmony variant",
        "4": "-sä",
        "5": "",
        "6": "-{{{stem}}}-",
        "7": "",
        "8": "-{{{stem2}}}-",
        "9": "",
        "cat2": "",
        "f2nolink": "1",
        "f3nolink": "1",
        "f4nolink": "1",
        "f5nolink": "1",
        "f6nolink": "1",
        "f7nolink": "1",
        "f8nolink": "1",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "adjective",
        "var": "sä"
      },
      "expansion": "-sa (front vowel harmony variant -sä, linguistic notation -sA)",
      "name": "fi-suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "fi",
        "2": "dialectal"
      },
      "expansion": "(dialectal)",
      "name": "tlb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Finnish",
  "lang_code": "fi",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "-nsa"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of -nsa"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "-nsa",
          "-nsa#Finnish"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative",
        "dialectal",
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "-sa"
}

Download raw JSONL data for -sa meaning in Finnish (3.6kB)

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1698",
  "msg": "unrecognized head form: linguistic notation -sA",
  "path": [
    "-sa"
  ],
  "section": "Finnish",
  "subsection": "suffix",
  "title": "-sa",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1698",
  "msg": "unrecognized head form: linguistic notation -sA",
  "path": [
    "-sa"
  ],
  "section": "Finnish",
  "subsection": "suffix",
  "title": "-sa",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Finnish dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-11 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (602557e and 59dc20b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.