Balkans
/ˈbɔːl.kənz/US/ˈbɔl.kənz/
Balkans proper noun: a cultural region and peninsula in Southeastern Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovenia, and European Turkey.
Proper noun
the Balkans pl (plural only)
- A cultural region and peninsula in Southeastern Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovenia, and European Turkey.
- As the Ottomans' victories in the Balkans multiplied, increasing numbers of Anatolian warriors flocked to their ranks, and their territorial conquests grew.2002, Dennis P. Hupchick, The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism, page 104
- The Balkans is still comparatively less attractive than other post-communist countries in Europe [...]2015, Anastas Vangeli, “On the Growing Cooperation Between China and the Western Balkans”, in Nikolaos Papakostas, Nikolaos Pasamitros, editors, An Agenda for the Western Balkans: From Elite Politics...
- Synonyms:
- Balkan Peninsula
Balkans meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
Balkans in Hindi
- geographical region in the southeast of Europe — see also Balkan Peninsula
- बाल्कन bālkan
Balkans in Marathi
- geographical region in the southeast of Europe — see also Balkan Peninsula
- बाल्कन bālkan
Balkans in Urdu
- geographical region in the southeast of Europe — see also Balkan Peninsula
- بَلْقان balqān
Balkans in Bengali
- geographical region in the southeast of Europe — see also Balkan Peninsula
- বলকান bolokan
More languagesFewer languages
- Balkans in Telugu
- బాల్కన్లు bālkanlu
- Balkans in Malayalam
- ബാൾക്കൻ bāḷkkaṉ
- Balkans in Punjabi
- ਬਾਲਕਨ bālkan
- Balkans in Pashto
- بالکان
- Balkans in Arabic
- الْبَلْقَان al-balqān
- Balkans in Malay
- Balkan
- Balkans in Indonesian
- Balkan
- Balkans in Persian
- بالکان bâlkân
- Balkans in Thai
- บอลข่าน bal-kàan
- Balkans in Vietnamese
- Balkan
Synonyms of Balkans
Forms of Balkans
| alternative form (dated) | Balcans |
|---|
Origin of Balkans
Of Turkic origin; compare Turkish balkan (“wooded mountain range”). Probably unrelated to balk (“ridge of land”).
Words formed from Balkans
Questions about Balkans
- What does Balkans mean?
- Balkans means a cultural region and peninsula in Southeastern Europe, roughly equivalent to the area covered by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, sometimes including Romania, Moldova, Hungary, Slovenia, and European Turkey.
- What is Balkans in Hindi?
- Balkans in Hindi is बाल्कन (bālkan). See Balkans meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is Balkans?
- Balkans is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Balkans?
- Balkans is pronounced /ˈbɔːl.kənz/ (UK).
Words near Balkans in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Balkans (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Balkans.wav.
Cite this entry: “Balkans.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/balkans. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.