jedan (Serbo-Croatian)
Where does "jedan" come from?
The Serbo-Croatian word 'jedan' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European term *óynos, meaning 'one' or 'single.' It evolved into the Proto-Slavic *(j)edinъ before finally settling into its modern form. Today, it serves both as the numerical digit one and as an indefinite article, much like 'a' or 'some' in English.
Full etymology tree
- jedan (Serbo-Croatian), 'one (1)'
- inherited *(j)edinъ (Proto-Slavic)
- inherited *edī́˙nus (Early Proto-Slavic)
- inherited *edīˀnas (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- inherited *h₁edʰ-(H)iHnos (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *h₁óy(H)nos (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *óynos (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *h₁óy(H)nos (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *h₁edʰ-(H)iHnos (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *edīˀnas (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- inherited *edī́˙nus (Early Proto-Slavic)
- inherited *(j)edinъ (Proto-Slavic)
Ancestors
- *edinъ (Proto-Slavic)
- *h₁óynos (Proto-Indo-European)
Descendants and derived words
- i jedan i drugi (Serbo-Croatian)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris