-lainen

From Proto-Finnic *-lainen; synchronically analyzable as a toponymic element -la +‎ -inen. Cognate with Estonian -lane, Veps -laine.

Attested since at least the Bible translation of 1548, which uses it in Mark 7.26 (Grekilainen) and Luke 4.27 (Syrialainen), among other places.

• IPA^(key): /-lɑi̯nen/, [-lɑi̯ne̞n]
• Does not automatically cause secondary stress

-lainen (front vowel harmony variant -läinen)

1. Combined with a place name, forms the noun for the inhabitant of a place; or an adjective meaning "of or relating to (the place)".

   ‎Viro (“Estonia”) + ‎-lainen → ‎virolainen (“Estonian”)

   ‎Savo (“Savonia”) + ‎-lainen → ‎savolainen (“Savonian”)

2. Combined with a name, forms an adjective for a member of an organization or other defined group, a follower of philosophy etc.

   ‎German Hegel + ‎-lainen → ‎hegeliläinen (“Hegelian”)

   ‎kokoomus + ‎-lainen → ‎kokoomuslainen

3. Combined with a common noun, forms nouns for people characterized by this noun.

   ‎eläke (“pension”) + ‎-lainen → ‎eläkeläinen (“pensioner”)

   ‎vuokra (“rent”) + ‎-lainen → ‎vuokralainen (“tenant, lessee”)

4. Forms various diminutives; also used in surnames.

   ‎repo (“(dated) fox”) + ‎-lainen → ‎repolainen (“(nickname, poetic) fox”)

• Usually appended to the genitive or nominative singular stem.
• Place names already ending in -la often do not duplicate the suffix, and their adjective forms may be formed with simply -inen (e.g. Karjala → karjalainen, not ˣkarjalalainen).

Noun:

Adjective:

From compounds with laji (“kind, sort”) +‎ -inen. The origin as a separate word can still be seen in the imperfect accommodation to vowel harmony. The suffix has been reinforced and influenced by the somewhat similar sounding -llinen (e.g. dialectal millinen for millainen).

• IPA^(key): /-ˌlɑi̯nen/, [-ˌlɑi̯ne̞n]
• Rhymes: -ɑinen
• Syllabification^(key): lai‧nen
• automatically causes secondary stress, due to the fact that this suffix was originally a component in a compound

-lainen

1. Combined with a pronoun, forms an adjective relating to the kind or nature of a person or an object.

   Synonyms: -moinen, kaltainen

   ‎eri + ‎-lainen → ‎erilainen (“different”)

   ‎eräs + ‎-lainen → ‎eräänlainen (“kind of (a)”)

   ‎mikä + ‎-lainen → ‎minkälainen / millainen (“what kind of?”)

   ‎sama + ‎-lainen → ‎samanlainen (“similar, of the same kind”)

   ‎se + ‎-lainen → ‎sellainen (“such, of that kind”)

   ‎tämä + ‎-lainen → ‎tällainen / tälläinen (colloquial) (“of this kind”)

2. Combined with the genitive form of an adjective, forms an adjective indicating a smaller degree of the quality than that described by the original adjective.

   Synonym: -hko

   ‎heikko + ‎-lainen → ‎heikonlainen (“relatively weak”)

   ‎oikea + ‎-lainen → ‎oikeanlainen (“of a right kind (but not the right one)”)

   ‎viileä + ‎-lainen → ‎viileänlainen (“sort of cool”)

As this suffix is historically a compound, it is not subject to vowel harmony in the standard language; with the exception of the word yhtäläinen, it always has back vowel harmony. In colloquial use it may have a front vowel variant, if not the speaker has not been explicitly taught to avoid that, which proves the rule moot.

• Anneli, Linnea, alinen