Bulgarian

How to spell bulgarian

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce bulgarian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bulgarian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Bulgaria, its people, language, or culture.
2. nounA person from Bulgaria or of Bulgarian descent.
3. nounThe Slavic language spoken in Bulgaria.

Bulgarian in a sentence

• adjective

  The recipe called for a tub of thick bulgarian yogurt.

• noun

  Every bulgarian at the conference spoke fluent English.

• noun

  The signs at the airport were printed in bulgarian and English.

• adjective

  She booked a tour of the bulgarian coast along the Black Sea.

• noun

  His grandfather was a bulgarian who emigrated in the 1950s.

• noun

  She spent a year learning bulgarian before moving to Sofia.

Where does bulgarian come from?

Language of origin: Other

The word traces back to the Bulgars, a group of Turkic peoples who migrated into the Balkans and founded a state south of the Danube in the seventh century. The tribal name itself is often linked to a Turkic root meaning 'to mix' or 'to stir up', possibly describing a people of mixed origins, though the exact sense is debated. The land they settled became known in Latin as Bulgaria, and English formed 'Bulgarian' by adding the familiar -an ending used for nationalities, just as in 'Italian' or 'Hungarian'. The Bulgars eventually adopted the Slavic language of the local population, which is why the modern Bulgarian language is Slavic rather than Turkic. For spellers, the trap is the single 'l' and the -arian ending, which echoes other nationality words but is easy to slip into -erian or to double up incorrectly.

How the word is built

• Bulgar (the Bulgar people)
• -ia (place suffix, giving Bulgaria)
• -an (adjective/noun suffix: belonging to)