Prirodni

Prirodni is an adjective used in several South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Slovenian, meaning natural, inherent, or innate. It is employed to describe phenomena that exist in nature or are not caused by human intervention, and to distinguish what occurs naturally from what is artificial or synthetic. In everyday language, it can refer to attributes or processes that are considered natural or unaltered.

In mathematics, the term often appears in the phrase prirodni brojevi, meaning natural numbers. This denotes a basic set of counting numbers used in arithmetic. The conventional starting point for natural numbers varies by region and author: in many contexts they begin at 1 (1, 2, 3, ...), while in others the set includes zero (0, 1, 2, 3, ...). The choice affects definitions and operations in foundational math but does not change the general concept of natural numbers as a simple, non-negative counting sequence.

In broader usage, prirodni describes things that are not artificial, learned, or developed through human design. It can be applied to materials, conditions, or traits that are regarded as existing in nature or arising without deliberate modification, as in phrases like natural materials or natural conditions. The word is closely tied to the notion of nature, or priroda, in these languages.

Etymology and cognates trace prirodni to the notion of nature, with related forms such as priroda meaning nature itself. The term appears across languages in similar semantic fields, reflecting shared linguistic roots within the South Slavic language area.