glavno

Glavno is the neuter singular form of the adjective glavni in several South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Slovenian. It carries the meaning main, principal, chief, or primary, and it agrees with neuter nouns. The masculine and feminine forms are glavni and glavna, respectively.

Etymology traces glavno to the Proto-Slavic root related to glava, meaning head. Through this lineage the sense evolved from “of the head” to “foremost” or “principal,” a meaning preserved in modern usage.

In grammar, glavno is used to describe neuter nouns and typically appears in formal or descriptive contexts. Common compound phrases include glavno mesto (capital city), glavno pitanje (main question), and glavno pravilo (principal rule). The adjective participates in standard South Slavic agreement, with glavni used for masculine nouns and glavna for feminine nouns.

Usage notes emphasize its role in indicating importance or priority within a statement or description. While primarily a descriptive term, glavno frequently appears in discussions of geography, governance, law, and general planning, where a feature is singled out as the most important.

See also: glavna riječ, glavna oblast, glavna ideja. The term embodies a common Slavic morphological pattern where head-related words extend to notions of primacy or importance.