False Friends in Slavic Languages

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

• The Slovenian meaning ‘precious’ is shared by Bosnian vrijedan, Croatian vrijedan and Serbian вредан.
• The meaning ‘harmful’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vreden’, translated as ‘škodljiv’) is attested in Bulgarian вреден and Russian вредный.
• The meaning ‘able, clever’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vreden’, translated as ‘spreten, vrl, zmožen’) is attested in Bulgarian вреден and Macedonian вреден.
• The meaning ‘nasty, repulsive’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vreden’, translated as ‘grd, gnusen’) is attested in Polish wredny.
• The meaning ‘insidious, deceitful’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vreden’, translated as ‘prekanjen, zvijačen’) is attested in Polish wredny.
• The meaning ‘hard-working’ (not present in Slovenian ‘vreden’) is attested in Bosnian vrijedan, Croatian vrijedan and Serbian вредан.

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