| Basic Terminology | The Sla- & Slo- Words |
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| Term | Webster Dictionaries | Preferred by us | ||
| Slav | 1. | noun | one of a group of peoples in eastern, southeastern, and central Europe, including the Russians and Ruthenians (Eastern Slavs), the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, Slavonians, Slovenes, etc. (Southern Slavs), and the Poles, Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks, etc. (Western Slavs); a person whose native tongue is a Slavic language. | Slav |
| 2. | adjective | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Slavs; Slavic | Slavic | |
| Slavic | 1. | noun | a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, usually divided into East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian), West Slavic (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Sorbian), and South Slavic (Old Church Slavonic, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene) | Slavic |
| 2. | adjective | of or pertaining to the Slavs or their languages. Also, Slavonic. | Slavic | |
| Slavonic | 1. | adjective | Slavonian. | Slavonian |
| 2. | adjective | Slavic. | Slavic | |
| Slavonian | 1. | adjective | of or pertaining to Slavonia or its inhabitants. | Slavonian |
| 2. | adjective | Slavic. | Slavic | |
| 3. | noun | a native or inhabitant of Slavonia. | Slavonian | |
| 4. | noun | a Slav. | Slav | |
| Slovak | 1. | noun | one of a Slavic people dwelling in Slovakia. | Slovak |
| 2. | noun | the language of Slovakia, a Slavic language closely related to Czech. | Slovak | |
| 3. | adjective | of or pertaining to the Slovaks or Slovak. | Slovak | |
| Slovakian | 1. | noun | Slovak. | Slovak |
| 2. | adjective | Slovak. | Slovak | |
| Slovene | 1. | noun | one of a Slavic people dwelling in Slovenia. | Slovene |
| 2. | noun | a South Slavic language spoken in Slovenia. | Slovene | |
| 3. | adjective | of or pertaining to the Slovenes or Slovene. Also, Slovenian. | Slovene | |
| Slovenian | 1. | adjective | Slovene. | Slovene |
| Slovenic | 1. | adjective | Slovene. (this word is not in Webster dictionaries) | Slovene |
| Old Slavic | 1. | n., adj. | Old Church Slavonic. Also called Old Slavonic. | Old Church Slavic |
| 2. | n., adj. | one of medieval languages/dialects of Slavs. | Old Slavic | |
| 3. | n., adj. | the Slavic language used in the liturgical and Biblical translations of Cyril and Methodius as attested in manuscripts of the 10th and 11th centuries, also called Old Church Slavic. | Old Church Slavic |
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| Old Church Slavonic |
1. | n., adj. | the oldest attested Slavic language, an ecclesiastical language written first by Cyril and Methodius in a Bible translation of the 9th century and continued in use for about two centuries. It represents the South Slavic, Bulgarian dialect of 9th-century Salonika with considerable addition of other South and West Slavic elements. Also called Old Church Slavic, Old Slavic, Old Slavonic. | Old Church Slavic |
| 2. | n., adj. | Church Slavic. | Church Slavic | |
| Church Slavic | 1. | n., adj. | a liturgical language used in Eastern Orthodox churches in Slavic countries since the 11th or 12th century, representing a development of Old Church Slavonic through contact with the national Slavic languages. | Church Slavic |
| Slovakia | 1. | noun | a republic in central Europe: formerly a part of Czechoslovakia; under German protection 1939-45. Capital: Bratislava. | Slovakia |
| Slovenia | 1. | noun | a republic in SE Europe: formerly part of Yugoslavia. Cap.: Ljubljana. | Slovenia |
| Slavonia | 1. | noun | a (historic) region in the north of Croatia between the Sava, the Drava, and the Danube. | Slavonia |
| Slavism | 1. | noun | something that is native to, characteristic of, or associated with the Slavs or Slavic. Also, Slavicism. | Slavism |
| Pan-Slavism | 1. | noun | the idea or advocacy of a political union of all the Slavic peoples; a political and cultural movement originally emphasizing the cultural ties between the Slavic peoples but later associated with Russian expansionism. | Pan-Slavism |
| Term | Webster Dictionaries | Preferred by us |
The terminology is sometimes confusing also for insiders. Many terms are very similar and have sometimes more different meanings. The table shows only the contemporary meaning of the term in the English language (as described in two major Webster dictionaries). It can be even more complicated, if we follow a Latin version of the word, e.g. Slavonicus (Sclavonicus) in different historical periods. But not all terms Slavism.com deals with have initial Sla- or Slo-. The rest of them will be put to a different table. The origin of the Sla- or Slo- words will be explained elsewhere.
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