Balkan

See also: balkan and Balkán

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒlkən/, /ˈbɔːlkən/

  • Audio (Southern England); /ˈbɒlkən/:

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɔlkən/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑlkən/
• Rhymes: -ɒlkən, -ɔːlkən

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish بالقان, modern Turkish balkan (“wooded, craggy mountain range”).

Adjective

Balkan (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to the Balkan Peninsula.
   • 2025 January 1, Reuters, “Suspect in Montenegro shooting dies from self-inflicted injuries after killing at least 12 people”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     A man shot dead 12 people in a rampage in a small town in Montenegro before dying from self-inflicted injuries early on Thursday, authorities said, in one of the tiny Balkan nation’s worst mass killings.

2. Of or relating to the Balkan Mountains.
3. Of or relating to the Balkan countries and their inhabitants.

Synonyms

• Balkanic, Balkanian

Derived terms

• Balkan Egyptian
• Balkan endemic nephropathy
• Balkaner
• Balkan heath
• Balkanian
• Balkanic
• Balkanization
• Balkan pine
• Paleo-Balkan

Translations

of or relating to the Balkan Peninsula

• Albanian: ballkanik (sq), ballkanas (sq)
• Arabic: بَلْقَانِي m (balqānī)

  Hijazi Arabic: بَلْقاني m (balgāni)

• Belarusian: балка́нскі (balkánski)
• Bengali: বলকানী (bôlkanī)
• Bulgarian: балка́нски (balkánski)
• Catalan: balcànic (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 巴爾幹 / 巴尔干 (zh) (Bā'ěrgàn)

• Czech: balkánský (cs)
• Danish: Balkan
• Dutch: Balkanees
• Esperanto: balkana
• Finnish: Balkanin, balkanilainen (fi)
• French: balkanique (fr)
• German: balkanisch
• Greek: βαλκανικός (el) (valkanikós)
• Hebrew: בַּלְקָנִי (balkani)
• Hungarian: balkán
• Irish: Balcánach
• Italian: balcanico (it)
• Lithuanian: balkanai
• Macedonian: балкански (balkanski)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: balkansk

  Nynorsk: balkansk

• Polish: bałkański (pl)
• Portuguese: balcânico (pt)
• Romanian: balcanic (ro)
• Russian: балка́нский (ru) (balkánskij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ба̀лка̄нскӣ

  Latin: bàlkānskī (sh)

• Slovak: balkánsky
• Slovene: balkánski
• Spanish: balcánico
• Turkish: Balkan (tr)
• Ukrainian: балка́нський (balkánsʹkyj)
• Urdu: بَلْقانی m or f (balqānī)
• Welsh: Balcanaidd

Proper noun

Balkan

1. (rare) The Balkans. (This form is often used in international contexts perhaps because the languages native to the region also use a singular form.)

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Balkan (uncountable)

1. A region of Turkmenistan.

Translations

Region of Turkmenistan

• Russian: Балка́нский велая́т (Balkánskij velaját)
• Turkmen: Balkan welaýaty

  Cyrillic: Балкан велаяты

Finnish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish بالقان.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɑlk(ː)ɑn/, [ˈbɑ̝lk(ː)ɑ̝n]
• Rhymes: -ɑlkɑn
• Syllabification^(key): Bal‧kan
• Hyphenation^(key): Bal‧kan

Proper noun

Balkan

1. the Balkans (a cultural region and peninsula in Southeast Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Slovenia, and European Turkey)

Declension

Inflection of Balkan (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		Balkan	—
genitive		Balkanin	—
partitive		Balkania	—
illative		Balkaniin	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Balkan	—
accusative	nom.	Balkan	—
	gen.	Balkanin
genitive		Balkanin	—
partitive		Balkania	—
inessive		Balkanissa	—
elative		Balkanista	—
illative		Balkaniin	—
adessive		Balkanilla	—
ablative		Balkanilta	—
allative		Balkanille	—
essive		Balkanina	—
translative		Balkaniksi	—
abessive		Balkanitta	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Balkan (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Balkanini — accusative nom. Balkanini — gen. Balkanini genitive Balkanini — partitive Balkaniani — inessive Balkanissani — elative Balkanistani — illative Balkaniini — adessive Balkanillani — ablative Balkaniltani — allative Balkanilleni — essive Balkaninani — translative Balkanikseni — abessive Balkanittani — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Balkanisi — accusative nom. Balkanisi — gen. Balkanisi genitive Balkanisi — partitive Balkaniasi — inessive Balkanissasi — elative Balkanistasi — illative Balkaniisi — adessive Balkanillasi — ablative Balkaniltasi — allative Balkanillesi — essive Balkaninasi — translative Balkaniksesi — abessive Balkanittasi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Balkanimme — accusative nom. Balkanimme — gen. Balkanimme genitive Balkanimme — partitive Balkaniamme — inessive Balkanissamme — elative Balkanistamme — illative Balkaniimme — adessive Balkanillamme — ablative Balkaniltamme — allative Balkanillemme — essive Balkaninamme — translative Balkaniksemme — abessive Balkanittamme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Balkaninne — accusative nom. Balkaninne — gen. Balkaninne genitive Balkaninne — partitive Balkanianne — inessive Balkanissanne — elative Balkanistanne — illative Balkaniinne — adessive Balkanillanne — ablative Balkaniltanne — allative Balkanillenne — essive Balkaninanne — translative Balkaniksenne — abessive Balkanittanne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Balkaninsa — accusative nom. Balkaninsa — gen. Balkaninsa genitive Balkaninsa — partitive Balkaniaan Balkaniansa — inessive Balkanissaan Balkanissansa — elative Balkanistaan Balkanistansa — illative Balkaniinsa — adessive Balkanillaan Balkanillansa — ablative Balkaniltaan Balkaniltansa — allative Balkanilleen Balkanillensa — essive Balkaninaan Balkaninansa — translative Balkanikseen Balkaniksensa — abessive Balkanittaan Balkanittansa — instructive — — comitative — —

Derived terms

• balkanilainen

compounds

• balkaninhevoskastanja
• balkaninmyyrä
• balkaninnäsiä
• balkaninruohomyyrä
• balkaninsieppo
• balkaninsokkomyllikäs
• balkanintiainen
• balkanintunnelimyyrä
• balkaninuunilintu
• balkanmakkara

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbalˌkaːn/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Bal‧kan

Proper noun

Balkan m (proper noun, strong, genitive Balkans)

1. the Balkans (a cultural region and peninsula in Southeast Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Slovenia, and European Turkey)

Declension

Declension of Balkan [sg-only, masculine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Balkan
genitive	eines	des	Balkans
dative	einem	dem	Balkan
accusative	einen	den	Balkan

Derived terms

• Balkanese
• Balkanhalbinsel
• balkanisch
• balkanisieren
• Balkansprachbund
• Balkanstaat

Norwegian Bokmål

Proper noun

Balkan

1. the Balkans (a cultural region and peninsula in Southeast Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Slovenia, and European Turkey)

Derived terms

• balkansk

Norwegian Nynorsk

Proper noun

Balkan

1. the Balkans (a cultural region and peninsula in Southeast Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Slovenia, and European Turkey)

Derived terms

• balkansk

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bǎlkaːn/
• Hyphenation: Bal‧kan

Proper noun

Bàlkān m inan (Cyrillic spelling Ба̀лка̄н) (uncountable)

1. the Balkans (a cultural region and peninsula in Southeast Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Slovenia, and European Turkey)

Declension

Declension of Balkan

	singular
nominative	Bàlkān
genitive	Balkána
dative	Balkanu
accusative	Balkan
vocative	Balkane
locative	Balkanu
instrumental	Balkanom

References

• “Balkan”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /balkàːn/

Proper noun

Balkán m inan

1. the Balkans (a cultural region and peninsula in Southeast Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Slovenia, and European Turkey)

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nominative	Balkán
genitive	Balkána
	singular
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	Balkán
genitive (rodȋlnik)	Balkána
dative (dajȃlnik)	Balkánu
accusative (tožȋlnik)	Balkán
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	Balkánu
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	Balkánom

Related terms

• Balkánec / Balkánka
• balkánski

References

• “Balkan”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “Balkan”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

Swedish

Proper noun

Balkan n (genitive Balkans)

1. the Balkans (a cultural region and peninsula in Southeast Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Slovenia, and European Turkey)

Anagrams

• blanka