jedan

Jedan is the masculine singular form of the numeral meaning “one” in Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian. It is used as a cardinal number to denote a single item and in counting, as in one, two, three. The feminine and neuter forms are једna and jedno, used with feminine and neuter nouns, respectively, and the word inflects for grammatical case in sentences.

Etymology and cognates: The word derives from Proto-Slavic roots shared across Slavic languages. Cognates include Russian odin, Polish jeden, Czech jeden, Slovak jeden, Ukrainian odyn, Belarusian adzin, and Bulgarian edin. Despite phonetic changes across languages, these forms share a common origin meaning “one.”

Usage and examples: In everyday speech one says, for example, jedan čovek (one man), jedna žena (one woman), or jedno dete (one child). The expression jedan od ... means “one of ...” and is commonly used to select a member of a group. As a numeral, it participates in forming larger numbers, such as jedanaest (eleven) and other compounds in the respective language.

Grammar: As a numeral adjective, jedan agrees with gender and case, with jednan, jedna, and jedno as base forms that adapt to grammatical context. The corresponding ordinal for “one” is usually not used; instead, the concept is expressed by prvi for “first,” among other ordinals.

See also: Counting systems in Slavic languages; numeral systems; basic Croatian–Bosnian–Serbian grammar.