---
title: "eiku"
book_form: "ei kun"
translation: "No wait. I mean. Scratch that."
type: "word"
category: "puhekieli"
url: "https://finnishirl.com/words/eiku"
canonical: "https://finnishirl.com/words/eiku"
published: "2026-10-01"
updated: "2026-10-01"
author: "Andrey the Nomad"
site: "Finnish IRL"
license: "https://finnishirl.com/terms#ip"
---

# eiku
URL: https://finnishirl.com/words/eiku
Book form (kirjakieli): ei kun
Translation: No wait. I mean. Scratch that.
Pronunciation: /ˈeiku/
Category: puhekieli
Archetypes: reaction, spoken
Region: Finland
Register: neutral spoken Finnish
Literal meaning: "No but" - ei plus kun.
Tone and safety: Safe everywhere. It is a repair, not a contradiction.
Published: 2026-10-01

Quick answer:
- Eiku means no wait, or I mean. It cancels what you just said and puts the correction next.
- The comprehensive grammar lists it among the particles used for self-repair, with tai, siis and niinku.
- It corrects yourself, not the other person - for that you need ei vaan or eiku sä sanoit.

What it means:
- Eiku undoes your own last few words. It signals that a correction is coming, and the important part of the sentence is whatever follows it.
- It comes from ei kun, no but, and speech has fused the two into one unit.

Book form vs spoken form:
- Written you would separate it - ei, kun tarkoitin - or rewrite the sentence entirely, which is what writing lets you do.
- Eiku exists because speech cannot be rewritten. It is the spoken equivalent of a backspace, and it belongs to a small set of particles that do that job.

How Finns use it:
- Fixing a fact mid-sentence. Se oli kolmelta, eiku neljältä means it was at three, no, at four.
- Fixing a word: mä otan kahvin, eiku teen.
- Softening a whole retraction: eiku unohda koko juttu - actually, forget the whole thing.
- As a standalone, said fast, when you have just realised you were wrong about something bigger.

Tone and safety:
- No risk. Nobody hears a correction as fussiness in Finnish, a speaker who fixes themselves is being clear.
- It only works on yourself. Using it to correct someone else sounds abrupt, and the phrases for that are ei vaan or ei kun sä sanoit.

Common mistake:
- Skipping over it. Everything before eiku has been cancelled, so a learner who catches only the first half of the sentence gets the wrong answer.
- Trying to spell it as two words in a message. Finns write eiku.

Examples:
- Se lähtee kolmelta, eiku neljältä. - It leaves at three, no, at four.
- Mä otan teen. Eiku kahvin. - I'll have tea. Actually, coffee.
- Eiku unohda mitä mä sanoin. - Actually, forget what I said.

Mini dialogue:
A: Nähdään huomenna kuudelt.
B: Eiku mulla on huomenna treenit.
A: Ai. Sit ylihuomenna?
B: Käy.

FAQ:
Q: What does eiku mean?
A: No wait, or I mean. It cancels what you just said and introduces the correction.

Q: Where does eiku come from?
A: From ei kun, "no but". Speech has fused the two words into one.

Q: Can I use eiku to correct someone else?
A: It works best on yourself. Correcting another person with it sounds abrupt; ei vaan is the usual choice there.

Q: How is it written?
A: Eiku, as one word, in messages and in dialogue. In formal writing you would restructure the sentence instead.

Q: What other repair words are there?
A: Siis for clarifying, tai for offering an alternative, and niinku for approximating. The grammar groups all of them together.

Related words: niinku, no-niin, kato, joo, joo-joo, just-joo, no, en-tiia, anteeks

Sources:
- VISK § 862 - particles in self-repair: eiku, tai, siis, niinku (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=862
- VISK § 797 - what dialogue particles are (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=797
- VISK § 1027 - turn-initial particles (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=1027
- VISK § 108 - inflection of the negative verb (Iso suomen kielioppi, Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://kaino.kotus.fi/visk/sisallys.php?p=108
- Kielitoimiston sanakirja: kun (Kotimaisten kielten keskus): https://www.kielitoimistonsanakirja.fi/#/kun