Zodiac Signs in Finnish: All 12 Names, and Why Ten Are Everyday Words
Nothing prepares you for the zodiac signs in Finnish. Every other language in this series is a cousin of English somewhere back down the line. Finnish is not. It belongs to a completely separate family, and it borrowed almost nothing from Latin when the zodiac arrived. Ten of the twelve names are plain Finnish words. Two name animals that do not live in Finland, and those are the only two you will recognise.
Finnish for a star sign is tähtimerkki. Your horoscope is a horoskooppi. Everything else on this page is built from Finnish roots.
All 12 Zodiac Signs in Finnish
| English | Finnish | Pronunciation | Literal meaning | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aries | Oinas | OY-nas | ram | 21.3. – 19.4. |
| Taurus | Härkä | HAR-ka | ox | 20.4. – 20.5. |
| Gemini | Kaksoset | KAK-so-set | twins | 21.5. – 20.6. |
| Cancer | Rapu | RA-poo | crayfish | 21.6. – 22.7. |
| Leo | Leijona | LAY-yo-na | lion | 23.7. – 22.8. |
| Virgo | Neitsyt | NAYT-suit | virgin | 23.8. – 22.9. |
| Libra | Vaaka | VAA-ka | scales | 23.9. – 22.10. |
| Scorpio | Skorpioni | SKOR-pee-o-nee | scorpion | 23.10. – 21.11. |
| Sagittarius | Jousimies | YOH-see-mee-es | bow-man | 22.11. – 21.12. |
| Capricorn | Kauris | KOW-rees | ibex, roe deer | 22.12. – 19.1. |
| Aquarius | Vesimies | VE-see-mee-es | water man | 20.1. – 18.2. |
| Pisces | Kalat | KA-lat | fishes | 19.2. – 20.3. |
Finnish pronunciation is the one genuine mercy here. It is almost perfectly regular: every letter is pronounced, stress always falls on the first syllable, and a doubled letter is simply held twice as long. Vaaka has a long first vowel. Kaksoset does not. Say them exactly as written and you will be understood.
The Ten Finnish Zodiac Signs That Are Ordinary Words
These ten are not astrological vocabulary. They are words a Finnish farmer, fisherman or hunter would use.
Aries in Finnish: Oinas
Oinas is a ram. Not a poetic ram or an archaic one. If you keep sheep in Finland, the male is an oinas. The word has been in the language for thousands of years and has cognates across the Finno-Ugric family. See the Aries profile for the sign.
Taurus in Finnish: Härkä
An ox, not a bull. Finnish has sonni for a bull and did not use it. That puts Finnish on the same side as Swedish, which chose Oxen, and against Danish and Norwegian, which both went with the bull. Centuries of Swedish rule left their mark on more than the vocabulary. More in the Taurus profile.
Gemini in Finnish: Kaksoset
From kaksi, “two”. Kaksoset means twins in the ordinary sense, the word on a Finnish maternity ward. Plural, as the sign is everywhere. The Gemini profile has more.
Cancer in Finnish: Rapu
A crayfish. Finland shares the Nordic crayfish obsession, and August rapujuhlat are a fixture of the calendar. Finnish for crab is taskurapu, literally “pocket crayfish”, which tells you which animal the language considered the default. See the Cancer profile.
Virgo in Finnish: Neitsyt
Here Finnish is blunter than its neighbours. Swedish, Danish and Norwegian all use a word meaning “maiden” or “young woman”. Neitsyt means virgin, straightforwardly, and it is the word used in Finnish translations of the Bible. Nothing has been softened. Read the Virgo profile.
Libra in Finnish: Vaaka
Vaaka is a weighing device of any kind, from a laboratory balance to the thing in your bathroom. Note the double a: hold it. Vaka with one a is a different word entirely, and Finnish does not forgive vowel length. The Libra profile covers the sign.
Sagittarius in Finnish: Jousimies
The best name in the list. Jousi is a bow, mies is a man, so Finnish Sagittarius is literally a bow-man. Every Scandinavian language dropped the bow and kept only the shooter: Skytten, Skytte. Finnish is the only Nordic language that still puts the weapon in the name. See the Sagittarius profile.
Capricorn in Finnish: Kauris
And here Finnish leaves the goat behind altogether. Kauris is a deer word. Metsäkauris is a roe deer; vuorikauris is an ibex. Finnish has vuohi for goat and did not use it. So while German and Scandinavian Capricorn is a mountain goat and the original Babylonian version was a goat with a fish tail, Finnish Capricorn is closer to an antelope. Read the Capricorn profile.
Aquarius in Finnish: Vesimies
Vesi is water, mies is man. Built exactly like Jousimies, and exactly like German Wassermann and Swedish Vattumannen — the one image every one of these languages agreed on. The Aquarius profile has the sign.
Pisces in Finnish: Kalat
Kala is fish; kalat is fishes. In a country with 188,000 lakes this is not a rare word. See the Pisces profile.
The Two Finnish Star Signs That Came From Outside
Finland has no lions and no scorpions. With no native animal, there was no native word, and both names arrived from elsewhere.
Leo in Finnish: Leijona
Leijona traces back to Latin leo through Germanic and Swedish. Finns know the word well — the national ice hockey team is Leijonat, the Lions, and it is one of the most emotionally loaded nouns in the language. See the Leo profile.
Scorpio in Finnish: Skorpioni
Unmistakably a loan, and it looks like one: initial consonant clusters such as sk- are foreign to older Finnish, which is why loanwords were historically stripped down to a single consonant. This one kept its cluster, marking it as a relatively recent arrival. See the Scorpio profile.
What Happens to Finnish Sign Names in a Sentence
This is where Finnish stops being easy. There are no articles and no grammatical gender, which sounds like good news, but Finnish nouns take fifteen cases and the stem often changes when they do. Sign names are no exception.
The two forms you need most are the plain form and the genitive:
| Sign | Genitive | Used in |
|---|---|---|
| Oinas | Oinaan | Oinaan horoskooppi — the Aries horoscope |
| Härkä | Härän | Härän merkki — the sign of Taurus |
| Rapu | Ravun | Ravun viikko — Cancer’s week |
| Vaaka | Vaa’an | Vaa’an horoskooppi — the Libra horoscope |
| Kauris | Kauriin | Kauriin merkki — the sign of Capricorn |
| Jousimies | Jousimiehen | Jousimiehen viikko — Sagittarius’s week |
Look at what happened to the consonants. Rapu became Ravun: the p softened to a v. Härkä became Härän: the k disappeared. Vaaka became Vaa’an, where the apostrophe marks the gap the k left behind. This is consonant gradation, it applies across the whole language, and it is the reason Finnish horoscope headlines can look nothing like the sign names you memorised.
One more rule worth knowing. Finnish endings must match the vowels in the word they attach to — back vowels with back vowels, front with front. That is why Aries becomes Oinaassa but Taurus becomes Härässä, both meaning “in”, with the same ending wearing two different coats.
The Vocabulary Around Zodiac Signs in Finnish
| English | Finnish |
|---|---|
| star sign | tähtimerkki |
| zodiac | horoskooppimerkit |
| horoscope | horoskooppi |
| astrology | astrologia |
| sun sign | aurinkomerkki |
| rising sign / ascendant | nouseva merkki |
| birth chart | syntymäkartta |
| constellation | tähtikuvio |
The phrases:
- Mikä on tähtimerkkisi? — What’s your star sign? (The “your” is the -si glued on the end.)
- Olen oinas. — I’m an Aries.
- Olen syntynyt Oinaan merkissä. — I was born under the sign of Aries.
- Tyypillinen leijona! — Typical Leo!
Horoskooppi in Finland
Finland is one of the least religious countries in Europe and one of the more enthusiastic consumers of tabloid horoscopes, which is less contradictory than it sounds. Ilta-Sanomat and Iltalehti both run daily horoskooppi columns, and the women’s weeklies have carried them for generations. The tone is dry, short and faintly amused at itself — much like Finnish writing in general. Translate an effusive English horoscope directly into Finnish and it will read as a parody.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you say “zodiac sign” in Finnish?
Tähtimerkki, from tähti (star) and merkki (sign). A horoscope is a horoskooppi.
What are the 12 zodiac signs in Finnish?
Oinas, Härkä, Kaksoset, Rapu, Leijona, Neitsyt, Vaaka, Skorpioni, Jousimies, Kauris, Vesimies and Kalat — Aries through Pisces in order.
Why do the zodiac signs in Finnish look nothing like the English ones?
Because Finnish is not an Indo-European language and did not inherit or borrow the Latin names. It translated the images instead, using existing Finnish words for ram, ox, twins, crayfish and so on.
Is Finnish Capricorn a goat?
Not really. Kauris is a deer word — metsäkauris is a roe deer, vuorikauris an ibex. Finnish has vuohi for goat and did not use it for the sign.
Are Finnish zodiac signs capitalised?
Capitalised when naming the sign, lowercase when describing a person: olen oinas. Finnish is stricter about this than English.
Zodiac Signs in Finnish and the Rest of the Cluster
Finnish shares a border with Sweden and a great deal of history, which shows up in one place: both languages make Taurus an ox. Compare the zodiac signs in Swedish, then the Danish and Norwegian lists, which both prefer a bull. For the opposite extreme — a language that kept the Latin nearly intact — see the zodiac signs in Italian.
All twenty languages in one place: zodiac signs in different languages.
