narodni

Narodni is an adjective used in several Slavic languages, notably Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Slovenian. It is formed from the noun narod, meaning people or nation, and the masculine singular form narodni; feminine and neuter forms are narodna and narodno, with diacritics varying by language (for example národní in Czech or národný in Slovak). The broader meanings are “national” or “people’s,” and in cultural contexts it can also convey “folk” or “traditional.”

In everyday usage, narodni often appears in phrases related to culture and tradition. It commonly describes folk traditions, music, and customs, such as narodni ples (folk dance), narodna muzika or narodna glazba (folk music), and narodna tradicija (folk tradition). The sense of the word is determined by the head noun: it can denote national aspects when paired with state or political terms, or folk/people’s aspects when paired with cultural or community terms.

In proper names and institutional titles, narodni is frequently used to signal national or people-centered character, though exact meanings and spellings vary by country and language. Examples of such usage are context-dependent and may shift between “national” and “folk” interpretations.

The term is closely related to narod meaning “people” or “nation” and to concepts of ethnicity and nationality such as narodnost. Across Slavic languages, related forms exist with language-specific diacritics, including národní (Czech) and národný (Slovak). See also narod, narodnost.