smak

Smak is a word that appears in several Slavic languages with different but related meanings. In Polish, smak is primarily the noun for taste or flavor in culinary contexts. It also carries the sense of aesthetic refinement or good taste, as in expressions about style or discernment. Verbs derived from it include smakować, meaning to taste or to be palatable, and smakosz, referring to a gourmet or someone with refined taste.

In Serbo-Croatian languages (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian), smak most commonly means end or termination, used in literary or formal contexts as well as in idiomatic phrases. A well-known usage is smak svijeta, meaning the end of the world. The word can also denote a final outcome or completion of an event, with meanings that extend beyond the literal act of ending.

Etymologically, smak appears across Slavic languages with divergent semantic paths. The Polish sense of taste and the South Slavic sense of end are distinct developments that share a common Slavic root, leading to a broad umbrella of meanings centered on perception and conclusion in different linguistic communities.

Usage and translations vary by language. Polish examples include dobry smak (good taste), smakować (to taste), and smakosz (gourmet). In South Slavic contexts, smak conveys end or doom in phrases like smak svijeta. The word does not commonly function as a proper noun in standard usage, though it may appear in titles or colloquial expressions.

See also: taste, flavor, end (as a concept in Slavic languages).