Serb
/sɜːrb/noun
A member of the South Slavic people traditionally associated with Serbia and neighboring regions.
Did you know?The ethnonym’s ultimate origin is disputed, with proposals connecting it to an ancient Slavic form such as *Sьrbъ and, more controversially, to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning “to suck” or “sip.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic
*Sьrbъ
“Reconstructed ancestral form of the ethnonym; its original sense remains uncertain.”
10th Century
Byzantine Greek
Σέρβοι (Serboi)
“The Serbs; recorded as the name of a Slavic people in Byzantine historical writing.”
12th Century
Old Serbian
Srьblji / Srъblji
“Forms referring to the Serbian people in medieval Slavic usage.”
15th–16th Century
Middle English / Early Modern English
Serbe / Serb
“English forms referring to a member of the Serbian people.”
Modern English
English
Serb
“A member of the Serbian ethnic group.”