ulica

See also: ulicą, ulicã, and ûlica

Old Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlós

Proto-Balto-Slavic *aul-

Proto-Slavic *ula

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂

Proto-Balto-Slavic *-kas

Proto-Slavic *-ica

Proto-Slavic *ùlica

Old Polish ulica

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ùlica. First attested in 1258.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /ulʲit͡sʲa/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ulʲit͡sʲa/

Noun

ulica f (related adjective uliczny)

1. (attested in Greater Poland, Lesser Poland) street (road between houses in a village)
   • 1877-1999, Franciszek Piekosiński, Antoni Gąsiorowski, Henryk Kowalewicz, Ryszard Walczak, Tomasz Jasiński, Izabela Skierska, editors, Kodeks dyplomatyczny Wielkopolski. Codex diplomaticus Maioris Poloniae [Diplomatic Code of Greater Poland], volume I, Greater Poland, page 308:

     Adiungimus eciam sibi domum in civitate penes plateam, que vocatur Thkaczka ulicza

     [Adiungimus eciam sibi domum in civitate penes plateam, que vocatur Thkaczka ulica]

   • 1939 [end of the 14th century], Ryszard Ganszyniec, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Kubica, Ludwik Bernacki, editors, Psałterz florjański łacińsko-polsko-niemiecki [Sankt Florian Psalter]‎^{scan transliteration, transcription}, Krakow: Zakład Narodowy imienia Ossolińskich, z zasiłkiem Sejmu Śląskiego [The Ossoliński National Institute: with the benefit of the Silesian Parliament], pages 17, 46:

     Iaco bloto vlicz (platearum) sgladzø ie

     [Jako błoto ulic (platearum) zgładzę je]

2. mistranslation of the ambiguous Latin vīcus as 'street' instead of 'village'
   • 1977-1980 [1471], Wanda Żurowska-Górecka, Vladimír Kyas, editors, Mamotrekty staropolskie [Old Polish-Latin Dictionaries and wordlists], page 267:

     Vliczie vicos (dimitte illos, ut euntes in proximas villas et vicos emant sibi cibos Marc 6, 36)

     [Ulice vicos (dimitte illos, ut euntes in proximas villas et vicos emant sibi cibos Marc 6, 36)]

Derived terms

nouns

• uliczka
• ulicznik

Descendants

• Polish: ulica
• Silesian: ulica

References

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005), “ulica”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “ulica”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlós

Proto-Balto-Slavic *aul-

Proto-Slavic *ula

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂

Proto-Balto-Slavic *-kas

Proto-Slavic *-ica

Proto-Slavic *ùlica

Old Polish ulica

Polish ulica

Inherited from Old Polish ulica.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /uˈli.t͡sa/

• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /uˈli.t͡sa/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it͡sa
• Syllabification: u‧li‧ca

Noun

ulica f (diminutive uliczka, abbreviation ul.)

1. street (road between houses)
2. (metonymic) street (people on a street)
3. (colloquial, sociology) public opinion (society as an exponent of views and assessments of current political, social, and cultural life)

   Synonyms: opinia publiczna, vox populi

4. (obsolete) crowd; urban proletariat
5. (obsolete) path in a park or garden

   Synonym: ścieżka

Declension

Declension of ulica

	singular	plural
nominative	ulica	ulice
genitive	ulicy	ulic
dative	ulicy	ulicom
accusative	ulicę	ulice
instrumental	ulicą	ulicami
locative	ulicy	ulicach
vocative	ulico	ulice

Derived terms

adverb

• na ulicę

nouns

• dziecko ulicy
• język ulicy
• prawo ulicy
• rządy ulicy

verbs

• leżeć na ulicy impf
• pracować na ulicy impf
• trafić na ulicę pf, trafiać na ulicę impf
• wychować się na ulicy pf, wychowywać się na ulicy impf

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), ulica is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 11 times in scientific texts, 163 times in news, 20 times in essays, 53 times in fiction, and 18 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 265 times, making it the 197th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• ulica in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ulica in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa; Stanisław Rospond; Witold Taszycki; Stefan Hrabec; Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023), “ulica”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “ULICA”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 31.10.2018
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “ulica”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “ulica”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1919), “ulica”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 7, Warsaw, page 279

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ulica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ûlit͡sa/
• Hyphenation: u‧li‧ca
• Rhymes: -it͡sa

Noun

ȕlica f (Cyrillic spelling у̏лица)

1. street

Declension

Declension of ulica

	singular	plural
nominative	ulica	ulice
genitive	ulice	ulica
dative	ulici	ulicama
accusative	ulicu	ulice
vocative	ulico	ulice
locative	ulici	ulicama
instrumental	ulicom	ulicama

See also

• cesta

Further reading

• “ulica”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Silesian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewlós

Proto-Balto-Slavic *aul-

Proto-Slavic *ula

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂

Proto-Balto-Slavic *-kas

Proto-Slavic *-ica

Proto-Slavic *ùlica

Old Polish ulica

Silesian ulica

Inherited from Old Polish ulica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uˈli.t͡sa/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it͡sa
• Syllabification: u‧li‧ca

Noun

ulica f (diminutive uliczka, related adjective uliczny)

1. street

Declension

Declension of ulica

	singular	plural
nominative	ulica	ulice
genitive	ulice	ulic
dative	ulicy	ulicōm
accusative	ulicã	ulice
instrumental	ulicōm	ulicami/ulicōma
locative	ulicy	ulicach
vocative	ulico	ulice

Related terms

adverb

• ulicznie

Further reading

• ulica in silling.org

Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ulica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈuʎit͡sa]

• Audio (Bratislava):

  (file)

Noun

ulica f (relational adjective uličný, diminutive ulička or uličôčka)

1. street

Declension

Declension of ulica
(pattern ulica)

	singular	plural
nominative	ulica	ulice
genitive	ulice	ulíc
dative	ulici	uliciam
accusative	ulicu	ulice
locative	ulici	uliciach
instrumental	ulicou	ulicami

Derived terms

• pouličný
• uličník

Further reading

• “ulica”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Slovene

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ulica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ùːlit͡sa/

Noun

úlica f

1. street

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.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	úlica
gen. sing.	úlice
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	úlica	úlici	úlice
genitive (rodȋlnik)	úlice	úlic	úlic
dative (dajȃlnik)	úlici	úlicama	úlicam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	úlico	úlici	úlice
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	úlici	úlicah	úlicah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	úlico	úlicama	úlicami

Further reading

• “ulica”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025