ukrainian

Ukrainian refers to the people, language, and culture associated with Ukraine. Ethnic Ukrainians form the majority of Ukraine's population and are distributed across the country, with significant communities in cities and rural areas alike. The term also designates Ukrainian-speaking communities abroad, notably in Canada, the United States, Brazil, and parts of Europe. Throughout history, the word has described the inhabitants of the territories that now constitute Ukraine and the evolving national identity that has developed in relation to neighboring Slavic groups.

Ukrainian is an East Slavic language closely related to Belarusian and more distantly to Russian. It uses the Cyrillic alphabet, currently with 33 letters. The language developed from Old East Slavic dialects in and around the Ukrainian lands of the former Kievan Rus, with substantial influence from Church Slavonic and Polish. The standard literary form is based on central and western dialects and was codified in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ukrainian is the official state language of Ukraine and is used in government, education, media, and public life; minority languages are protected under law. Dialects vary by region, including Northern, Southern, Western, and Central varieties, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility with neighboring languages.

Ukrainian culture includes literature, music, visual arts, and folk traditions such as vyshyvanka embroidery and the hopak dance. The language and its literature—exemplified by writers such as Taras Shevchenko and Ivan Franko—have played a central role in shaping Ukrainian national identity, especially during periods of political change and independence.