sveikas

Sveikas is a Lithuanian word with two common uses: as an adjective meaning healthy or sound, and as an interjection used to greet someone. The word appears in everyday speech and writing, and it is inflected for gender and number.

As an adjective, sveikas describes health or condition and agrees with the noun it modifies. The masculine singular form is sveikas, the feminine singular is sveika, and plural forms vary by gender (for example, sveiki for masculine plural and sveikos for feminine plural). It can describe people as healthy, or things as intact or undamaged, as in phrases such as sveikas kūnas (a healthy body) or žmogus who is sveikas.

As a greeting, sveikas functions as an informal hello. In this use, the masculine form Sveikas is used when addressing a male, the feminine form Sveika when addressing a female, and the plural Sveiki when addressing multiple people. It is common in casual speech among friends and colleagues, and may be combined with a name or a pronoun, for example, Sveikas, Jonai! or Sveiki, bičiuliai!

Usage notes and related terms: the greeting Sveikas is informal and more personal than formal salutations like Laba diena or Sveiki. The word is also the basis for related terms in Lithuanian, such as sveikata (health). Understanding its dual role helps in recognizing both descriptive and interpersonal functions in everyday Lithuanian.