ceste

Ceste is a term used in several South Slavic languages to denote roads or routes. In Slovene, cesta means a road, path, or journey; ceste is the plural form, referring to multiple roads or the road network. Similar terms exist in Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian, where cesta or cesta designates a road, with ceste serving as the plural. The concept covers a range of traveled ways from small local paths to major highways.

In official usage, ceste are typically classified by function and maintenance authority. Common categories include motorways or highways (Slovenian avtocesta; Croatian autocesta), state or national roads (državne ceste or državne ceste), regional roads (regionalne ceste), and local or municipal roads (občinske ceste in some variants, or lokalne ceste in others). These classifications reflect jurisdiction and funding for construction and upkeep, and they appear on maps, road signs, and transport planning documents.

Etymologically, ceste derives from a common Slavic root associated with road or path, and cognate forms appear across related languages. The term is widely used beyond literal roads to denote routes in a broader sense, including metaphorical pathways or routes of travel and transport in discourse and literature.

Ceste also functions in toponyms and as a general descriptive label in signage and planning. While its precise usage can vary by country and language, the core meaning—as roads or routes within a network—remains consistent across the South Slavic linguistic area.