syli

syli (plural sylis)

1. The currency of Guinea between 1971 and 1985, subdivided into 100 cauris.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsyli/, [ˈs̠yli]
• Rhymes: -yli
• Syllabification^(key): sy‧li
• Hyphenation^(key): sy‧li

From Proto-Finnic *süli, from Proto-Uralic *süle. Cognates include Estonian süli, Veps sül', Erzya сэль (sëľ, “fathom”), Hungarian öl.

syli

1. arms (in reference to embracing or holding in both one's arms)

   Otin hänet syliini.

   I took her/him in my arms.

2. lap (space over upper legs of a seated person)

   Poika istui äitinsä sylissä.

   The boy was sitting on his mother's lap.

3. (figuratively) lap (place of rearing and fostering)
4. synonym of sylillinen (“armful”)

• Archaically also inflected as Etymology 2 below.

Semantic loan from Swedish famn (“lap, measure of length”).

syli

1. fathom (traditional measure of length equal to three cubits; see usage notes below)
2. (nautical) fathom
3. (historical) A unit of volume for firewood, enough firewood to make a woodpile four kyynärä (around 2.4 metres) long and three kyynärä (around 1.8 metres) tall, with the width depending on the type of tree; e.g. five kortteli (around 0.75 metres) wide (equating to around 3.14 stacked cubic metres) for birch and six kortteli (around 0.9 metres) wide (equating to around 3.77 stacked cubic metres) for wood from coniferous trees.

   Synonym: parmas

4. (historical) A somewhat less old unit of volume for firewood equivalent to four (stacked) cubic metres.

When Finland belonged to Sweden, the Finnish cubit (kyynärä) was equal to Swedish aln (59.4 cm), thus making the length of syli 178.2 cm (= 70.16 inches). Under the Russian rule (1809–1917) the definition of kyynärä was modified to correspond with Russian аршин (aršin) (71.12 cm), thus lengthening syli to 213.36 cm (= 84 inches). In nautical terminology, syli corresponds to English fathom (72 inches = 182.88 cm).

Although derived from the noun meaning the body part, this word is inflected differently (singular genitive sylen for the length measure, and sylin for the body part).

• (213.36 cm): arsina
• syltä

• “syli”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 January 2024

• ylsi

• IPA^(key): /si.li/

syli m (plural sylis)

1. syli (former currency of Guinea)

From Proto-Finnic *süli. Cognates include Finnish syli and Estonian süli.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈsyli/, [ˈs̠ylʲi]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈsylʲi/, [ˈʃylʲi]
• Rhymes: -yli, -ylʲi
• Hyphenation: sy‧li

syli

1. hug
2. sazhen

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 557