sustavni

Sustavni is an adjective found in several South Slavic languages, most notably Croatian, Bosnian, and Serbian, used to indicate a relation to a system or to describe something as systemic or structural within a larger whole. It derives from the noun sustav, meaning system, apparatus, or structure. The form is gender- and case-inflected, appearing in contexts where the emphasis is on the system as an integrated whole rather than on isolated parts.

In everyday usage, sustavni describes phenomena that involve or affect an entire system. In biology and medicine it commonly refers to whole-body or organ-system concepts, for example nervni sustav (nervous system), karotidni sustav (vascular system), or endokrini sustav (endocrine system). The phrase sustavni poremećaj can denote a systemic disorder, while sustavni efekti describe effects that propagate through the entire organism.

In social sciences, engineering, and organizational discourse, sustavni is used to characterize issues, reforms, or processes that are systemic rather than purely local or individual. Phrases such as sustavni problemi or sustavne reforme are used to signal that the focus is on the structure and functioning of the whole system.

In Slovenian usage, cognate forms exist, but the language commonly favors other adjectives such as sistemski or sistematičen to express systemic or systematic meanings. The precise choice of term depends on linguistic context and nuance, but sustavni remains a recognizable descriptor across related languages.

The concept is distinct from but related to terms for system-wide analysis, and its usage hinges on whether the emphasis is on the whole system, its components, or the interactions among them.