Three new Croatian words announced at annual linguistics awards

The Croatian language has gained three new words after the annual Dr. Ivan Šreter Awards took place in Lipik on Saturday.

The competition, organised by Croatian magazine Jezik and the Dr. Ivan Šreter Foundation, aims to find the best new Croatian words each year.

This year’s edition saw a record number of submissions, with 201 participants proposing a total of 420 new words, Compas.com reported.

After narrowing down the entries, 18 words made it to the final selection.

The winner of this year’s award for the best new Croatian word was plovopis, submitted by Dubravko Merlić. The word plovopis describes a literary or other work detailing a journey by boat or another vessel.

In addition to Merlić’s winning word, two other words received recognition.

The second best new Croatian word was čvornik, submitted by Martina Šarić from Nuštar.

Čvornik serves as a Croatian alternative to the English word hub and refers to a central connection point.

Juraj Borić was awarded third place for uglednina, a replacement for the English term goodwill, used in accounting to describe the intangible value of a company beyond its physical and financial assets.

The winners received 600, 400 and 200 euros respectively, along with statues by Ivan Šreter, created by academic sculptor Tonko Fabris.

The awards are named in honour of Dr. Ivan Šreter (1951–1991), a Croatian physician who was imprisoned in Yugoslavia in 1987 for using the distinct Croatian term umirovljeni časnik instead of the Serbian penzionisani oficir to describe a retired officer.

Since 1993, the competition has been organised by Jezik, promoting and celebrating the development of the Croatian language.