ylä-

See also: yla, ýla, ylą, yła, ȳła, and -yla

Finnish

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *ülä, from Proto-Uralic *wilä, *wülä. Cognate with Erzya вель- (veľ-) in велькс (veľks, “sheet; upside”), вельтямс (velťams, “to cover”). Some of the inflected forms, like yleensä, ylen and ylös exhibit a variant yle-; this variant goes back to at least Proto-Finnic (see the entry for more).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈylæ-/, [ˈylæ-]

Prefix

ylä- (comparative ylempi, superlative ylin)

upper
superior, high, higher

Usage notes

ylä- is used as a nominal prefix, whereas yli- is used as both a verbal prefix and as a nominal prefix:
Yliarvioiko alaluokka yläluokkaa?
Is the upper class being overestimated by the lower class?

yli-ihminen ― superhuman

yliluutnantti ― senior lieutenant

yliopisto ― university

ylimielinen ― arrogant

Inflection

The inflected forms of ylä- serve only as adverbs.

Declension of ylä-

noun case	singular	plural	adverbial form	singular	plural
nominative	ylä-	–	superessive	ylhäällä	–
genitive	–	–	delative	ylhäältä	–
partitive	–	–	sublative	ylhäälle	–
accusative	–	–	lative	ylös	–
inessive	–	–	temporal	–	–
elative	–	–	causative	–	–
illative	(yleensä)	–	multiplicative	–	–
adessive	yllä	–	distributive	–	–
ablative	yltä	–	temp. dist.	–	–
allative	ylle	–	prolative	yli, ylitse	–
essive	–	–	situative	–	–
translative	–	–	oppositive	–	–
abessive	–	–
instructive	ylen	–
comitative	–	–