-ttain

-ttäin Finnish Etymology A variant of earlier and still dialectal fi -ttaen, probably from *-ttaden (possibly related to et -ti, et -te), re-extracted from the second infinitive instructive forms of verbs ending in fi -ttaa. The instructive case has distributive meanings in dialects, with such uses attested in Kalevala. Suffix adverb ttäin Forms distributive adverbs. fi aste grade asteittain gradually fi päivä day -ttäin päivittäin daily, every day fi tusina dozen tusinoittain dozens of fi Me myymme ostereita tusinoittain. We sell oysters by the dozen. fi Aukiolle kokoontui tuhansittain ihmisiä. People gathered on the square in their thousands. Forms adverbs expressing manner. fi kiinalainen Chinese kiinalaisittain in a Chinese way fi tusina dozen tusinoittain by the dozen fi sivu page sivuittain page by page fi Hän äänsi nimensä ruotsalaisittain. He pronounced his name in a Swedish way. fi Suomalaisittain Vancouverin olympialaiset menivät surkeasti. The Vancouver Olympics went really badly for Finns. Forms adverbs that express position. fi pitkä long -ttäin pitkittäin lengthwise fi loma gap, space in between lomittain interlocked fi sivu side sivuttain sideways Usage notes This suffix is usually appended to the weak plural stem; see examples above. When the adjectival suffix fi -inen is added to words with this suffix, the final form is fi -ttainen / -ttäinen. Derived terms fi Further reading Anagrams fi aintt Antti tatin tinat