tyhjä (Finnish)
Where does "tyhjä" come from?
The Finnish word 'tyhjä' originates from the Proto-Finnic term '*tühjä', which was borrowed from the Proto-Balto-Slavic '*tuskjas'. This ancient root traces back to the Proto-Indo-European '*tews-', meaning 'to be empty' or 'to drain'. Through these centuries of transition, the word has consistently maintained its fundamental meaning of lacking substance or content.
Full etymology tree
- tyhjä (Finnish), 'empty, void (devoid of content)'
- inherited *tühjä (Proto-Finnic), 'empty'
- inherited *tüšjä (Proto-Finnic)
- borrowed *tuskjas (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'empty'
- derived *tus-sḱ-yós (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *tews- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be empty; to drain'
- derived *tus-sḱ-yós (Proto-Indo-European)
- borrowed *tuskjas (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'empty'
- inherited *tüšjä (Proto-Finnic)
- inherited *tühjä (Proto-Finnic), 'empty'
Ancestors
- *tews- (Proto-Indo-European)
- *tühjä (Proto-Finnic)
- *tuskjas (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
Cognates and doublets
- tühi (Estonian)
- tukšs (Latvian)
- tuščias (Lithuanian)
- tühj (Veps)
Descendants and derived words
- epätyhjä (Finnish)
- puolityhjä (Finnish)
- tyhjäkatseinen (Finnish)
- tyhjäkäynti (Finnish)
- tyhjäkäyvä (Finnish)
- tyhjämerkki (Finnish)
- tyhjänaikainen (Finnish)
- tyhjänpäiten (Finnish)
- tyhjänpäiväinen (Finnish)
- tyhjänpuhuja (Finnish)
- tyhjäntoimittaja (Finnish)
- tyhjäntoimitus (Finnish)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris