kljun

Kljun is a noun used in several South Slavic languages, including Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Slovenian, where it means the beak or bill of a bird. The term can also refer more generally to a snout or any pronounced, projecting part of an animal’s face. In everyday language, kljun may be used in a literal sense for birds or in a figurative sense to describe something that sticks out or dominates a facial feature, such as a large nose, often in humorous or descriptive speech.

Etymology and cognates of kljun point to its roots in the Slavic language family. The word is well established in the modern South Slavic lexicon, and related forms exist across related languages, though exact phonetic variations differ. The term has historical usage in literature and natural history writing within the regions where these languages are spoken.

Usage notes include its primary association with birds in scientific and educational contexts, while in informal speech it can carry a light, playful tone when commenting on someone’s appearance or a conspicuous feature of an object. Kljun is typically not used outside of the Slavic-speaking world, and in languages outside that area, different terms for beak or snout are standard.

See also: Beak, Bird anatomy, Snout, Ornithology, Slavic linguistics.