False Friends in Slavic Languages

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

• The Bosnian meaning ‘precious’ is shared by Croatian vrijedan, Serbian вредан and Slovenian vreden.
• The Bosnian meaning ‘hard-working’ is shared by Croatian vrijedan and Serbian вредан.
• The meaning ‘harmful’ (not present in Bosnian ‘vrijedan’, translated as ‘štetan’) is attested in Bulgarian вреден and Russian вредный.
• The meaning ‘able, clever’ (not present in Bosnian ‘vrijedan’, translated as ‘vješt, valjan, marljiv’) is attested in Bulgarian вреден and Macedonian вреден.
• The meaning ‘nasty, repulsive’ (not present in Bosnian ‘vrijedan’, translated as ‘gadan, odvratan’) is attested in Polish wredny.
• The meaning ‘insidious, deceitful’ (not present in Bosnian ‘vrijedan’, translated as ‘himben, lažan’) is attested in Polish wredny.

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