Sintetski

Sintetski is an adjective used in several South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian, to denote something that is synthetic or man-made as opposed to natural. The term comes from the same root as the English word synthetic, via Latin syntheticus and Greek synthetikos. In these languages, the adjective inflects for gender and number: sintetski (masculine), sintetska (feminine), sintetsko (neuter), with plural forms such as sintetski, sintetske, sintetska.

In science and industry, sintetski describes substances and materials produced by chemical synthesis or artificial processes. Examples include sintetski polimer (synthetic polymer), sintetska smola (synthetic resin), and sintetski lijek (synthetic drug). In linguistics, sintetski jezik refers to a synthetic language, typically one with considerable inflection and word formation through affixes rather than purely analytic constructions. In music and computing, sintetski zvuk means synthetic sound generated by electronic instruments, while sintetski algoritmi can denote synthetic or algorithmic methods used in processing data.

The term is also used in broader scientific contexts, such as sintetska biologija (synthetic biology), where biological systems or components are engineered. While sintetski generally signals artificial origin or construction, some contexts distinguish carefully between synthetic and artificial, with sintetski emphasizing a designed, often chemically produced origin.

See also: synthetic, synthetic biology, synthetic polymer, synthetic language.