päiväkoti

päivä +‎ koti, most likely a calque of Swedish daghem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpæi̯ʋæˌkoti/,
• Rhymes: -oti
• Hyphenation^(key): päivä‧koti

päiväkoti

1. nursery school, preschool (educational institution for young children, in Finland usually for children from 1 year up to around 6 years old; takes place before esikoulu and then primary school or peruskoulu)

The common translation, kindergarten, is actually incorrect, as päiväkoti refers to an educational institution for small children who not yet have begun primary school (peruskoulu, Swedish grundskola) or even esikoulu. In Finland, esikoulu (Swedish förskola, literally “preschool”) is a closer correspondence to kindergarten (at least in the US), since it refers to an educational institution for children (normally between 6 and 7 years old) the last year before beginning primary school. In Sweden, however, esikoulu (Swedish förskola) refers to what is essentially the same institution as that called päiväkoti in Finland, while that called esikoulu (Swedish förskola) in Finland is called esikoululuokka (Swedish förskoleklass, “preschool class” or “preschool grade”) in Sweden.

päiväkoti technically refers only to the educational institution, but is very commonly used for the stage of education (which is more correctly called varhaiskasvatus) in informal contexts.

• “päiväkoti”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03