poredni

Poredni is an adjective used in several South Slavic languages to describe order or position within a sequence. In Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian, it is commonly associated with ordinal concepts, especially in the phrase poredni broj, which refers to ordinal numbers such as first, second, and third. The term denotes items that are arranged in a fixed order rather than quantities.

Etymology and sense: The form is derived from the Slavic root pored-, meaning beside or in a line, which reflects the idea of things lined up in a sequence. In grammar and lexicography, poredni marks the property of being ordered or positional, as opposed to cardinal numbers used for counting.

Usage: Poredni is used to describe ordinal numbers and ordered positions in language, mathematics, and pedagogy. It is typically contrasted with cardinal numbers, which express quantity. In mathematical contexts, the corresponding concept is ordinal numbers that classify positions in well-ordered sets; in language resources, these are often referred to as poredni brojevi or ordinalni brojevi.

Examples: Common ordinal forms in everyday speech include prvi (first), drugi (second), and treći (third). When discussing sequence or ranking, speakers may refer to the poredni position of an item rather than its cardinal value, such as the first item in a list or the second position in a race.

See also: Ordinal numbers, Slavic linguistics.