Slav

See also: slav

English

Etymology

From Middle English sclave, borrowed from Medieval Latin Sclavus, from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos), from earlier Σκλαβῆνος (Sklabênos), plural Σκλαβῆνοι (Sklabênoi), from Proto-Slavic *slověnji, *slověne (“those who speak meaningfully”), singular *slověninъ. Compare Old Church Slavonic словѣни, словѣнє (slověni, slověne, “Thessalonian Slavs”), Old East Slavic словѣне (slověne, “Slavs near Novgorod”).

Commonly thought to derive from Proto-Slavic *slovo (“word”), thus meaning "those who speak meaningfully" and contrasting with *němьcь (“foreigner”, literally “dumb/mute person”). However, that word is an s-stem and thus the inflectional stem of that word is *sloves-, so it cannot be the direct origin as it would lead to an expected form *slovesěni (compare Russian слове́сность (slovésnostʹ)). Thus the most likely origin is the verb *sluti (“to be known”). Both words ultimately derive from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“fame”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /slɑːv/, /slæv/
• (Received Pronunciation, US) Rhymes: -ɑːv, -æv

Noun

Slav (plural Slavs)

People from these countries are usually considered Slavs.

1. A member of any of the peoples from Eastern Europe who speak the Slavic languages.
2. (Britain, birdwatching) The Slavonian grebe.

Derived terms

• Slavdom
• Slavic

Related terms

• slave
• Slavonic

Translations

a member of a group of peoples in Eastern Europe speaking a Slavic language

• Arabic: سْلَاف‏‎ m (slāf)
• Armenian: սլավոն (hy) (slavon)
• Asturian: eslavu
• Azeri: slavyan
• Belarusian: славяні́н m (slavjanín), славя́нка f (slavjánka)
• Bulgarian: славяни́н (bg) m (slavjanín), славя́нка f (slavjánka)
• Catalan: eslau m, eslava f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 斯拉夫人 (si¹ laai¹ fu¹ jan⁴)

  Mandarin: 斯拉夫人 (sīlāfūrén)

• Czech: Slovan (cs) m
• Danish: slaver c
• Dutch: Slaaf (nl) m, Slavische (nl) f
• Esperanto: slavo, slavino (woman)
• Estonian: slaavlane
• Finnish: slaavi (fi)
• French: Slave (fr) m, f
• Friulian: sclâf, sclâv
• Georgian: სლავი (slavi)
• German: Slawe (de) m, Slawin (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌹𐌳𐌰 m (Winida), 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌹𐌳𐍉 f (Winidō)
• Greek: Σλάβος (el) m (Slávos), Σλάβα f (Sláva)
• Hebrew: סלאבי‏‎ m
• Hindi: स्लाव m (slāv)
• Hungarian: szláv (hu)
• Irish: Slavacha
• Japanese: スラヴ人 (suravu-jin), スラブ人 (surabu-jin)
• Korean: 슬라브 사람 (seullabeu saram)

• Latin: Slavus m
• Latvian: slāvs m, slāviete f
• Lithuanian: slavas m, slavė f
• Macedonian: Словен m (Sloven), Словенка f (Slovenka)
• Mongolian: слав (slav), славян (slavjan)
• Norwegian: slav
• Persian: اسلاو‏‎ (fa) (eslâv)
• Polish: Słowianin (pl) m, Słowianka (pl) f
• Portuguese: eslavo (pt) m
• Russian: славяни́н (ru) m (slavjanín), славя́нка (ru) f (slavjánka)
• Scottish Gaelic: Slàbhach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Словен m, Словенка f (Bosnian, Serbian), Славен m, Славенка f (Croatian)

  Roman: Sloven m, Slovenka f (Bosnian, Serbian), Slaven m, Slavenka f (Croatian)

• Slovak: Slovan m, Slovanka f
• Slovene: Slován m, Slovánka f
• Spanish: eslavo (es) m, eslava (es) f
• Swedish: slav (sv)
• Tagalog: Eslabo
• Thai: ชาวสลาฟ (chaao sà-làaf)
• Turkish: Slav (tr)
• Ukrainian: слов'яни́н m (slovʺjanýn), слов'я́нка f (slovʺjánka)
• Urdu: سلاو‏‎ m (slāv)
• Venetian: slavo
• Vietnamese: người Slav
• Welsh: Slaf m
• Yakut: ньөһа (ńöha)

Anagrams

• Vals, lavs