viisi (Finnish)

Where does "viisi" come from?

The Finnish word 'viisi' originates from the Proto-Uralic root *witte, which has served as the basis for the number five across a vast family of languages for millennia. As it evolved into Proto-Finnic *viici before reaching modern Finnish, it gained an elongated vowel likely influenced by the word for six. This ancient term links Finnish to diverse relatives ranging from Estonian to distant Hungarian and Nganasan.

Full etymology tree

• viisi (Finnish), 'five'
  • inherited *viici (Proto-Finnic), 'five'
    • inherited *wijte (Proto-Finnic)
      • inherited *witte (Proto-Uralic), 'five'
    • influence *kuuci (Proto-Finnic), 'six'
      • inherited *ku(t)te (Proto-Finno-Ugric)

Ancestors

• *viici (Proto-Finnic)
• *witte (Proto-Uralic)

Cognates and doublets

• вете (Erzya)
• viis (Estonian)
• öt (Hungarian)
• вет (Northern Khanty)
• ат (Northern Mansi)

Descendants and derived words

• aamuviisi (Finnish)
• iltaviisi (Finnish)
• kahdeksankymmentäviisi (Finnish)
• kaksikymmentäviisi (Finnish)
• kolmekymmentäviisi (Finnish)
• kuusikymmentäviisi (Finnish)
• neljäkymmentäviisi (Finnish)
• neljäsviidettä (Finnish)
• seitsemänkymmentäviisi (Finnish)
• viidenkertainen (Finnish)
• viidenlainen (Finnish)
• viides (Finnish)

Updated July 2026

More words starting with V

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris