Obrade

Obrade is a term used in several South Slavic languages to denote processing, treatment, or handling of materials, objects, or data. In everyday technical usage, it appears as a broad label for a set of procedures that modify a substance or information to meet specified requirements.

In manufacturing and engineering, obrade refers to the processes that transform a raw workpiece into a finished part. This includes shaping, removing material, and finishing operations such as cutting, milling, turning, drilling, grinding, and polishing. The scope can cover metalworking, woodworking, plastics processing, and other material domains. Obrade are typically described in terms of their purpose (production, finishing, contouring) and their resulting tolerances and surface quality.

In information technology and data management, obrade (often phrased as obrada podataka or data processing) denotes activities that convert raw data into usable information. This encompasses data collection, cleaning, transformation, storage, analysis, and presentation. The term emphasizes practical handling and manipulation of data to support decision-making, reporting, or computational tasks.

Etymologically, obrade stems from the root meaning work, with a prefix or affix indicating processing or handling. The word is widely understood across Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, and related languages, where it appears in technical, industrial, and IT contexts.