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Definition: Serbo-Croat from The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide

The most widely spoken language in the former constituent republics of Yugoslavia – especially Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina – it is a member of the South Slavonic branch of the Indo-European family, and has over 17 million speakers.

The different dialects of Serbo-Croat tend to be written by the Greek Orthodox Serbs in the Cyrillic script, and by the Roman Catholic Croats in the Latin script.

Serbo-Croatian

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(sûr'bō-krōā'shӘn), language belonging to the South Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages ). Serbo-Croatian comprises several dialects, one of which (Stokavian) has given rise to modern standard Serbian, which is spoken mainly in Serbia and written mainly in a form of the Cyrillic alphabet, and modern standard Croatian, which is spoken mainly in Croatia written in a modified version of the Roman alphabet. The other dialects are mainly found in parts of Croatia and Bosnia, and the predominant pre-1990s dialect in Bosnia and in Montenegro was the same as that of modern standard Croatian. Traditionally, the dialects of Serbo-Croatian had a regional and historical basis instead of an ethnic one, but no true national Yugoslav language ever existed despite efforts by some to develop one. The political domination of Yugoslavia by Serbs, the reaction against that, and the breakup of Yugoslavia into more ethnically based nations has…
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Full text Article Serbo-Croatian

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(sûr'bō-krōā'shӘn), language belonging to the South Slavic group of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Slavic languages ). Serbo-Croatian comprises several dialects, one of which (Stokavian) has given rise to modern standard Serbian, which is spoken mainly in Serbia…
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Full text Article Serbo-Croatian language

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
South Slavic language spoken by some 21 million people in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro. As the dominant language of pre-1991 Yugoslavia, it was used or understood by most ethnic groups of the federation. The Central Neo-Shtokavian dialect forms the basis for both Standard…
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Full text Article Serbo-Croatian

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
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Full text Article Serbo–Croatian

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary
| 49 words
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Full text Article Serbo-Croatian

From The Macquarie Dictionary
| 39 words
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Full text Article Karadžić, Vuk Stefanović

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born Nov. 6, 1787, Tršić, Serbia, Ottoman Empire—died Feb. 6, 1864, Vienna) Serbian language scholar and folklorist. He was largely self-taught as a writer. After the failure of a Serb revolt against Turkish rule, he left for Vienna (1813), where he was introduced to formal scholarship by the…
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Full text Article slivovitz

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
A dry colorless plum brandy. [Serbo-Croatian šljivovica, from šljiva, plum; see sleiə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Word History: Though colorless itself, slivovitz is made from bluish plums, and the name for this kind of brandy or schnapps is of Slavic origin and ultimately comes from…
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Full text Article Czech language

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
West Slavic language spoken by some 12 million people in the historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and southwestern Silesia, all now in the Czech Republic, and in émigré communities, including perhaps a million speakers in North America. The earliest Old Czech texts date from the late 13th…
| 187 words
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Full text Article crescent

From The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets
is the English term applied to baked goods whose form resembles a waxing moon. This use of the word first entered the language in the late nineteenth century as a loan translation of the French croissant and occurs alongside the French word, which was directly borrowed into English at roughly the…
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