# difference between mönkiä and ryömiä



## Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I learned this new word "mönkiä" today when I read this cartoon where a woman says to her roommate:

Voi että, kaukosäädin kierähti sohovan taa. Viitsitkö mönkiä hakemaan?

It looks like the word has the same meaning as *ryömiä*, but I can't figure out the exact difference. Are those two interchangeable? And does the word *kömpiä* mean the same, as well?


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## Gavril

Extra Virgin Olive Oil said:


> I learned this new word "mönkiä" today when I read this cartoon where a woman says to her roommate:
> 
> Voi että, kaukosäädin kierähti sohovan taa. Viitsitkö mönkiä hakemaan?
> 
> It looks like the word has the same meaning as *ryömiä*, but I can't figure out the exact difference. Are those two interchangeable? And does the word *kömpiä* mean the same, as well?



I'm not entirely sure about the difference between _mönkiä / ryömiä / kömpiä, _but I looked up each word on suomisanakirja.fi, and the definitions seem to be a little different for each:

- _ryömiä_: 





> liikkua (tavallisesti hitaasti) ruumis hyvin lähellä jotakin pintaa tai sitä koskettaen


 = "To move (normally slowly) with the body very close to a surface, or touching it"
_
ryömiä _seems to be the most common translation of English "crawl"


- _kömpiä_: 





> liikkua kömpelösti, vaivalloisesti, us. nelinkontin tai käsillä auttaen, kompuroida, kavuta.


 "To move clumsily, with difficulty, often on all fours or with the help of the hands; stagger; climb"

The other two words don't seem to have the implication of "climbing" that _kömpiä _does (e.g., the WSOY dictionary has the sample phrases _kömpiä jaloilleen_ "to scramble to one's feet", and _kömpiä sänkyyn_ "clamber into bed")


- _mönkiä: _


> liikkua hitaasti ja kömpelösti


 = "to move slowly and clumsily"

This is fairly similar to the definition for _kömpiä/ryömiä_, but _mönkiä_ may tend to be used to describe the movements of certain specific things: e.g., it appears in the word _Mars-mönkijä_ "Mars rover", and suomisanakirja.fi gives the sample phrase, _Korrella mönkivä toukka. _"A caterpillar crawling on a stem"


Hopefully the Finns will provide further information/corrections.


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## Spongiformi

In my opinion _mönkiä _means crawling with greater difficulty through some obstacles. In your example the couch provides that hindrance. An all-terrain vehicle (quad bike) is called _mönkijä_ in Finnish to signify you can use it outside of roads. Moles can be said to _mönkiä _underground.

_Ryömiä_ merely means advancing with your whole body on the ground. It may sound the most official of all these and is used when you need to move in a prone position. It's not a good verb for your example, because it literally tells the other person would be forced to go all prone and even crawl under the couch...

_Kömpiä_ suggests something is hindering your movements, oft forcing you to go on all four but not necessarily. It can be alcohol or sleepiness, but it can also mean going through some obstacles or otherwise going slowly. It's slow movement in any case.


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## Hakro

Gavril said:


> I'm not entirely sure about the difference between _mönkiä / ryömiä / kömpiä, _but I looked up each word on suomisanakirja.fi, and the definitions seem to be a little different for each:
> - - -
> - _kömpiä_:
> 
> 
> 
> liikkua kömpelösti, vaivalloisesti, us. nelinkontin tai käsillä auttaen, kompuroida, kavuta.
> 
> 
> 
> "To move clumsily, with difficulty, often on all fours or with the help of the hands; stagger; climb"
> 
> The other two words don't seem to have the implication of "climbing" that _kömpiä _does (e.g., the WSOY dictionary has the sample phrases _kömpiä jaloilleen_ "to scramble to one's feet", and _kömpiä sänkyyn_ "clamber into bed")
Click to expand...

Obviously suomisanakirja.fi has a mistake here or they have copied the _Nykysuomen sanakirja_ in a defective way; NS says about _kömpiä: - - - nousta t. laskeutua käsillään auttaen._ This has nothing to do about climbing, it means, as you said, scrambling up or clambering down.

I have more than once seen similar negligence in the suomisanakirja.fi.


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## Gavril

Hakro said:


> Obviously suomisanakirja.fi has a mistake here or they have copied the _Nykysuomen sanakirja_ in a defective way; NS says about _kömpiä: - - - nousta t. laskeutua käsillään auttaen._ This has nothing to do about climbing, it means, as you said, scrambling up or clambering down.



"nousta / laskeutua käsillään auttaen" is almost identical to the definition of English _climb _(though _climb _is generally "käsillä ja jaloilla auttaen").

Does _kömpiä _always imply going up or down (like _climb _does), or can it refer to other movement (sideways, etc.)?


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## Hakro

Gavril said:


> Does _kömpiä _always imply going up or down (like _climb _does), or can it refer to other movement (sideways, etc.)?


In my vocabulary _kömpiä_ means usually moving forwards or sideways, seldom moving up or down. I wouldn't use it for climbing _(kiivetä)_ a tree or a mountain. Some people may use it in a different way, I don't know.


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