zdravstven

Zdravstven is an adjective found in several South Slavic languages, including Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian, where it denotes a relation to health or medicine. It is used to describe things connected with health care, medical practice, or public health, and it commonly forms compound terms such as health system, health services, or health protection. The root is zdrav- or zdravo, reflecting the core idea of being healthy.

In usage, the form and spelling vary by language and grammatical gender. In Slovenian, the base form zdravstven- appears in compounds like zdravstveni sistem (health system) or zdravstvena nega (health care). In Croatian and Serbian, the equivalent adjective is typically zdravstveni, used in phrases such as zdravstveni sustav or zdravstvene usluge. The word can appear in masculine, feminine, and neuter inflections to agree with the noun it modifies.

Zdravstven operates primarily in discussions of health policy, public health, and medical services. It is closely related to terms for health itself and health care in the respective languages, and it often translates to English as health-related or medical. The concept encompasses both the provision of medical services and broader health determinants, depending on linguistic and cultural context.

See also: health care, public health, medical services. The term is a linguistic tool rather than a standalone concept and functions mainly inside compound expressions to describe health-related topics across Slavic-language contexts.