Ljudska

Ljudska is the feminine singular form of the adjective ljudski, used in Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian to mean "human" or "of humans." It describes feminine nouns and agrees with them in gender and number. The corresponding masculine and neuter forms are ljudski and ljudsko, respectively. All forms share the same root ljude, derived from the noun ljude (person, people).

In practice, ljudska appears in everyday, legal, and academic language to characterize human-related aspects. Common phrases include ljudska prava (human rights), ljudske potrebe (human needs), ljudske vrijednosti (human values), and ljudska bića (human beings). When referring to a plural feminine noun, the form changes to ljudske to maintain agreement (for example, ljudske teme).

Etymologically, ljudska is tied to the root ljude meaning person or people. The word is widely used in discourse on ethics, sociology, law, and politics, where distinctions between human-centered and non-human or impersonal terms matter. It is not a proper noun and does not denote a place, organization, or individual.

Regional usage is strongest in the South Slavic linguistic area that uses the BC language continuum. In Slovenian, a different term is typically used for “human” (such as človeški), so ljudska is not standard there. Overall, ljutska functions as a gendered descriptor that foregrounds human-related qualities or rights in discourse about people.