prostední

Prostední is the non-diacritic spelling of the Czech adjective prostřední, meaning middle or central. The root prostřed- comes from střed, meaning center, with the suffix -ní used to form adjectives and ordinal senses. In standard Czech, prostřední describes position, status, or location relative to other items, and is commonly used with nouns to denote the middle part or central position, as in prostřední část města or prostřední poloha.

In toponymy, prostřední frequently appears as a component of compound place names, indicating a location that lies between other settlements or features. The diacritic form prostřední is typically used in official names and everyday language in the Czech Republic; the non-diacritic spelling prostední occurs in texts that omit diacritics, such as older documents, ASCII transcriptions, or non-Czech contexts. The two forms represent the same word and are not distinct entries.

Compared with related terms, prostřední conveys a sense of centrality or intermediary position, and is distinct from střední, which has a broader sense of central or intermediate but is more common in everyday phrases and in educational terms (střední škola, middle school). In linguistic and lexicographic references, prostřední is categorized as an adjective used as a modifier.

See also: střed, prostředí, prostředník, toponymy.