gromada

Gromada is a Slavic term used to describe a group of people who share a locality, interest, or institution. The word has cognates in Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian (gromada or hromada) and covers a range of meanings from a simple crowd to a structured community. The sense of the word spans informal gatherings to organized associations.

In Polish, gromada commonly refers to a group of people living in a village or forming a local community. Historically, it was used for peasant communities and informal local assemblies. In contemporary Poland it is not an official administrative unit, but the term appears in historical, cultural, and sociological contexts to describe communal life.

In Ukrainian, the equivalent term is hromada, meaning a community, organization, or local government unit. Since the 2015 decentralization reform, many hromadas have been established as basic units of local self-government, often formed by merging villages, towns, or cities. In Russian usage, gromada typically denotes a community or civil association and is encountered in formal, historical, or literary contexts.

Outside of strict administrative senses, gromada/hromada is also used in organizational or ceremonial names and in literature to signify a collective of people with shared ties. The term remains versatile, its exact meaning contingent on language, historical period, and context.