vitsaus

vitsata (“to lash; to tie with a twig”) +‎ -us. The sense “plague, scourge, blight” (presumably derived from the sense “to lash” of vitsata) is originally from religious language and attested since the time of Mikael Agricola (output c. 1543–1552).

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋitsɑus/, [ˈʋits̠ɑ̝us̠]
• Rhymes: -itsɑus
• Syllabification^(key): vit‧sa‧us
• Hyphenation^(key): vit‧sa‧us

vitsaus

1. plague, scourge, blight ((source of) widespread affliction, calamity, trouble, grave nuisance)

   Egyptin vitsaukset ― the Plagues of Egypt

   Kirput ovat kaalimaamme jokavuotinen vitsaus.

   Fleas are an annual blight on our cabbage patch.

2. (dialectal, South Ostrobothnia, Southwest Finnish) synonym of vitsas (“twig, wicker”)

• “vitsaus”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 4 July 2023

• sivusta, suvista, vitussa