Serbo-Croatian

noun

Ser·​bo-Cro·​a·​tian ˌsər-(ˌ)bō-krō-ˈā-shən How to pronounce Serbo-Croatian (audio)
1
: the Serbian and Croatian languages together with the Slavic speech of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro taken as a single language with regional variants
2
: a person whose native language is Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian adjective

Examples of Serbo-Croatian in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In the mission in Cyprus, for example, few peacekeepers speak Greek or Turkish; the same is true for Arabic or Nuer in South Sudan, Albanian or Serbo-Croatian in Kosovo, and French or Haitian Creole in Haiti. Séverine Autesserre, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2018 One of the world’s most vicious civil wars today, that in the land that once was Yugoslavia, pits peoples unified by language but divided by religion and ethnicity: Orthodox Serbs against Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosnians, all speaking Serbo-Croatian. Jared Diamond, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019

Word History

First Known Use

1883, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Serbo-Croatian was in 1883

Dictionary Entries Near Serbo-Croatian

Cite this Entry

“Serbo-Croatian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Serbo-Croatian. Accessed 25 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

Serbo-Croatian

noun
Ser·​bo-Cro·​atian
ˌsər-(ˌ)bō-krō-ˈā-shən
: the Serbian and Croatian languages together with the Slavic speech of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro considered as a single language with regional variants
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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