Bosnian is a South Slavic language spoken mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina by about 2.2 million people. On a formal level, Bosnian began to emerge as a distinct language after the break up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. It became one of official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994, along with Croatian and Serbian.
Bosnian is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Croatian, Serbian and Montenegrin. For more information see an article about Serbo-Croatian language issues.
Nowadays, Bosnian is written with both the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. Historically it was written with a version of the Cyrillic alphabet known as Bosnian Cyrillic (Bosančica / bosanska ćirilica) from the late 10th century until the 20th century. This alphabet was only used in Bosnia.
From the 15th century until the 20th century, Bosnian muslims wrote their language using a version of the Arabic script known as Arebica. There were attempts to make it more phonetic in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was used mainly to write poems and religious works.
The first Bosnian dictionary, a rhymed Bosnian–Turkish glossary authored by Muhamed Hevaji Uskufi, was composed in 1631.
This chart shows the Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet. It was never standardised and most letters had several different forms - the typical forms are shown here. Some of the letters used in the modern Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet were not used in this version, and there are some extras letters that are no longer used.
The Latin alphabet for Bosnian was adopted in 1878, however the Cyrillic and Arabic scripts continued to be used.
Download alphabet charts for Bosnian (Excel)
Hear the Bosnian alphabet
Download a Bosnian alphabet charts (Excel)
Cвa љyдскa бићa paђajy сe слoбoднa и jeднaкa y дoстojaнствy и пpaвимa. Oнa сy oбдapeнa paзyмoм и свиjeшћy и тpeбa дa jeднo пpeмa дpyгoмe пoстyпajy y дyхy бpaтствa.
Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i sviješću i treba da jedno prema drugome postupaju u duhu bratstva.
Hear a recording of this text (made with Text To Speech Free)
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
Information about Bosnian | Phrases | Numbers | Time | Tower of Babel | Bosnian courses on: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk [affilate links]
Information about Bosnian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_language
https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosanski_jezik
https://www.bosnjaci.net/prilog.php
Information about the Bosnian Cyrillic alphabet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_Cyrillic
https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosančica
Bosnian Cyrillic font
https://www.cirilica.net/staroslovenska-pisma-old-slavic-fonts
Convert Latin or Cyrillic text to Bosnian Cyrillic / Konverter latinice ili ćirilice u bosančicu
https://www.e-bosanski.ba/konverter-pisama/bosancica/
Bosnian courses
http://www.101languages.net/bosnian/
https://www.lingo-play.com/en/bosnian-for-beginners-and-advanced/
Bosnian phrases
https://www.50languages.com/en/learn/phrasebook/bs
http://www.101languages.net/bosnian/basics.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Bosnian_phrasebook
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Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page last modified: 31.08.25
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