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FINNISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

motti.

lump, swelling

5 characters2 syllables approx.Suomi language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈmotːi/[ˈmo̞t̪ːi]
  1. lump, swelling

Where this word comes from

Probably sound-symbolic

noun/ˈmotːi/[ˈmo̞t̪ːi]
  1. motor, engine

    colloquial
Where this word comes from

A shortened slang form of moottori.

noun/ˈmotːi/[ˈmo̞t̪ːi]
  1. a stere; a (stacked) cubic metre of firewood.

Where this word comes from

Borrowed from Swedish mått.

noun/ˈmotːi/[ˈmo̞t̪ːi]
  1. encirclement; pocket, siege, entrapment

Where this word comes from

First attested in 1940. Multiple theories: * Semantic shift from motti (etymology 1), as an analogy comparing a pocket of troops to a lump. This theory seems to be supported by contemporary sources; Captain Rikhard Kivilahti used mottipää (literally “lump-head”), a dialectal term for a tadpole, in January 1940 to refer to an enemy pocket (with a 'tail' stretching south on a road); just days later Captain Reino Merimaa used motti in reference to another dialectal sense for the head of a mallet or club (with the handle of it along a road). Both uses were therefore references to a shape. * Semantic shift from motti (etymology 3), comparing a pocket to a stere of firewood to be chopped down. * A reference to a particular enemy pocket, located on the site of what was initially planned to be a communications base named Motti. Soldiers would have referred to the place by this name, since it would have been a reference all relevant personnel understood at the time, and over time, it became a generic term.

noun/ˈmotːi/[ˈmo̞t̪ːi]
  1. face, mug

    colloquial · slang
Where this word comes from

Possibly from motti (etymology 1).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.