Smjer

Smjer is a noun used in Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian to denote the line or orientation along which a person or object moves, or along which something is measured. It can describe physical directions as well as abstract tendencies.

In geography, smjer specifies orientation on a map or the direction of travel, such as the wind's smjer (smjer vjetra) or a route's general smjer. On a compass, sjever (north), jug (south), istok (east), and zapad (west) indicate specific smjer, while smjer can refer to a broader bearing or heading.

In science and mathematics, smjer describes the direction of a vector or a line (pravac). In physics, velocity has a smjer; in geometry, a line has a smjer parallel to a vector.

In everyday language, smjer is used metaphorically to express tendencies or planned courses of action: smjer razvoja means the direction of development; smjer politike refers to the political orientation or ideological tendency.

Etymology: smjer comes from Slavic linguistic roots and has cognates in related languages, such as smer in Slovenian or směr in Czech, indicating a common Slavic concept of direction.