umpimähkään

Finnish

Etymology

From the archaic term umpimähkä (“pile of embers covered with ash in order to keep the fire alive”); in the morning one didn't know which part of the pile was still alive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈumpiˌmæhkæːn/, [ˈumpiˌmæhk̟æːn]
• Rhymes: -æhkæːn
• Syllabification^(key): um‧pi‧mäh‧kään

Adverb

umpimähkään (not comparable)

1. at random, haphazardly, indiscriminately

   Arvasivat varmaan umpimähkään.

   They probably just made a random guess.

Related terms

• umpimähkäinen

References

• An article of Maija Länsimäki on Kotus's webpage, originally published in Helsingin Sanomat on July 30th, 2007 [1]

Further reading

• “umpimähkään”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-04