New Croatian words to be selected – the 15 top submissions  

New Croatian words to be selected

Croatian magazine “Jezik” and the “Dr. Ivan Šreter” Foundation have published 15 words that have been shortlisted for the competition for the best new Croatian word and the “Dr. Ivan Šreter” Award for 2023.

The best new Croatian words will be selected from a number of submissions. This year, the largest number of submissions have been received with  385 people submitting as many as 538 new words. 

Only 15 suggestions have the shortlist and three words will win the prize, and their authors will receive cash prizes and diplomas.

The 15 words on the shortlist are:

Obrubnik – for skirting

Šećerice – for plant that produces sugar

Bakroza – for Wilson’s disease

Prikaznik – for display 

Dimodojavnik – for smoke detector 

Prijevodnici – for subtitles 

Odricajnica – for disclaimer statement 

Prestrujnik – for power adaptor 

Krugotok – for roundabout 

Znojilište – for sauna

Javnozborac/javnozborstvo – for PR

Otpadalište – for waste landfil 

Pridatak – for plug in

Zaključaj – for lockdown

Izazor – for rearview mirror

The selection of the best new Croatian words is celebrated every year during the commemorative week of the Declaration on the Croatian Language, which defended the Croatian language in 1967.

The awards are named after Dr. Ivan Šreter (1951–1991), a Croatian physician who was sentenced to jail time in Yugoslavia in 1987 for choosing to use the distinct Croatian umirovljeni časnik to refer to his patient as a retired officer, rather than using penzionisani oficir.

The awards have been organised by the literary magazine Jezik since 1993.