Slova

Slova is the plural form of the noun slovo in several Slavic languages, meaning words or speech. In Cyrillic-script languages such as Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian, the nominative plural is written as slova (слова) and pronounced similarly to the English word "slova." In Latin-script languages such as Polish, Czech, and Slovak, the corresponding plural appears as słowa, slova, and slová respectively, and all are commonly translated as "words" in dictionaries. The forms share a common origin in the Proto-Slavic root *slovo, meaning a spoken unit of language, and they are cognate across the Slavic language family.

In usage, slova refers to the items that constitute a language’s lexicon, as in phrases like "these words" or "the words of the sentence." The term appears in everyday speech, literature, and linguistic discussion, and it contrasts with concepts like meanings or phrases in various contexts.

Notes: The diacritic marks in Polish (słowa) and Slovak (slová) indicate pronunciation differences, but the underlying meaning remains "words." When transliterated into plain Latin script without diacritics, all three languages may appear as slova or słowa, depending on the language of reference. See also slovo, word (linguistics).