kyynärä

From Proto-Finnic *küünärä, from Proto-Uralic *küńä. Cognates include Estonian küünar, Livonian kīndõr, Northern Sami gardnjil, Erzya кенере (keńeŕe), Komi-Permyak гырддза (gyrddźa, “elbow”), the initial component of Udmurt гырпум (gyrpum, “elbow”) and Hungarian könyök.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkyːnæræ/, [ˈkyːnæræ]
• Rhymes: -yːnæræ
• Syllabification^(key): kyy‧nä‧rä

kyynärä

1. (archaic, now only in compounds) elbow, forearm
2. (historical) a traditional measure of length used in Sweden and Finland, equivalent to 59.34 centimetres
3. (historical) Synonym of arsina
4. (historical) an English cubit

In current usage, kyynärä mostly refers to the English cubit (= 45.7 cm). Dictionaries sometimes offer ell as an alternative translation. The length of an ell has varied in the course of time, but currently an English ell equals 2.5 cubits (= 114.3 cm), and is thus almost twice as long as the traditional Swedish/Finnish kyynärä. A German elle (= 60 cm) is practically the same length as kyynärä, which may be one source for the confusion. The Scots have their own ell (= 94.5 cm).

• kyynärpää
• kinner