Word.ws English Dictionary

Vukovian

Syllables: Vu·kov·i·an/vʊˈkəʊ.vi.ən/US/vʊˈkoʊ.vi.ən/

Vukovian adjective: of or pertaining to the ideas of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864) concerning the standardization of the Serbo-Croatian language.

vukovian: of or pertaining to the ideas of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864)...
Image: Jovan Popović, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

Vukovian

  1. Of or pertaining to the ideas of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864) concerning the standardization of the Serbo-Croatian language.
    • He supported Vuk's language reform and was a follower of Vuk in practice—in language and in deed—leaving the waging of the struggle to those who were more directly concerned. His printing press was also Vukovian. Small, wretched. On a rock, and born in poverty, but—the first of its kind among the...[1966], Milovan Djilas, translated by Michael B[oro] Petrovich, Njegoš: Poet, Prince, Bishop, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace & World, →OCLC, page 132
    • [T]he historical development of the Serbo-Croatian literary language have of recent years been focusing more and more of their attention on the period immediately preceding the monumental Vukovian reforms of the Serbo-Croatian language, that is, the 18th century.1979, Die Welt der Slaven, [Vienna; Cologne]: Böhlau Verlag, →OCLC, page 268

Noun

Vukovian (plural Vukovians)

  1. (historical) Chiefly in the plural form Vukovians: a member of a group of Croatian linguists active at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century who supported the ideas of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864) concerning the standardization of the Croatian variety of the Serbo-Croatian language.
    • Whereas the conservatives insisted that the Serbs should remain an organic part of the partially russianised Slavonic Orthodox community, the Vukovians wanted to sever the formal ties with this community, and emphasise the individuality of the Serbian nation within it.1989, Juhani Nuorluoto, Jovan Stejić’s Language: A Contribution to the History of the Serbo-Croatian Standard Language (Slavica Helsingiensia; 8), Helsinki: Department of Slavonic Languages...
    • Although the Vienna Literary Agreement had no immediate results, it is highly significant that among the many competing Croatian philological schools the ‘vukovians’ (Pero Budmani, Tomo Maretić, Ivan Broz, Franjo Iveković), the most ardent defenders of Serbo-Croat linguistic unity, became dominant...2002, Radovan Lučić, editor, Lexical Norm and National Language: Lexicography and Language Policy in South-Slavic Languages after 1989 (Die Welt der Slaven: Sammelbande; 14), Munich: Verlag Otto...

Examples of Vukovian in a sentence

  • Alternative language standards were proposed (based on the "kajkavian" dialect for example), and the "Vukovian" standard was not always accepted as legitimate.2016, Barbora Moormann-Kimáková, “Explaining Success and Failure of Language Regimes”, in Language-related Conflicts in Multinational and...
  • To be sure, even the vukovians sometimes called their language ‘Croat’.2002, Radovan Lučić, editor, Lexical Norm and National Language: Lexicography and Language Policy in South-Slavic Languages after 1989 (Die...

Forms of Vukovian

pluralVukovians

Origin of Vukovian

Probably an anglicization of Serbo-Croatian vȗkovac (“Vukovian”) by the addition of the suffix -ian, after the personal name of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864), from Serbo-Croatian vȗk (“wolf”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”).

Questions about Vukovian

What does Vukovian mean?
Vukovian means of or pertaining to the ideas of Serbian philologist and linguist Vuk Karadžić (1787–1864) concerning the standardization of the Serbo-Croatian language.
How do you use Vukovian in a sentence?
Alternative language standards were proposed (based on the "kajkavian" dialect for example), and the "Vukovian" standard was not always accepted as legitimate.
What part of speech is Vukovian?
Vukovian can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce Vukovian?
Vukovian is pronounced /vʊˈkəʊ.vi.ən/ (UK).

Words near Vukovian in the dictionary

  1. Vukomir
  2. Vukoslav
  3. Vukovar
  4. Vukovar-Srijem
  5. Vukovarsko-srijemska
  6. Vukovian
  7. Vukovians
  8. Vukovic
  9. Vukovics
  10. Vuladdore Reef
  11. Vulcan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Vukovian (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-Vukovian.wav.

Cite this entry: “Vukovian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vukovian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.