False Friends in Slavic Languages

• is a complete false friend in Bulgarian, Macedonian, Polish and Russian.
• is a true friend in Bosnian and Croatian.
• does not have all its Serbian meanings in Slovenian.
• does not have any formally similar counterparts in Belarusian, Czech, Slovak or Ukrainian.

• The Serbian meaning ‘precious’ is shared by Bosnian vrijedan, Croatian vrijedan and Slovenian vreden.
• The Serbian meaning ‘hard-working’ is shared by Bosnian vrijedan and Croatian vrijedan.
• The meaning ‘harmful’ (not present in Serbian ‘вредан’, translated as ‘штетан’) is attested in Bulgarian вреден and Russian вредный.
• The meaning ‘able, clever’ (not present in Serbian ‘вредан’, translated as ‘вешт, ваљан, марљив’) is attested in Bulgarian вреден and Macedonian вреден.
• The meaning ‘nasty, repulsive’ (not present in Serbian ‘вредан’, translated as ‘гадан, одвратан’) is attested in Polish wredny.
• The meaning ‘insidious, deceitful’ (not present in Serbian ‘вредан’, translated as ‘химбен, лажан’) is attested in Polish wredny.

NB: No information yet for Kashubian, Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian.