Šljivovica, Śliwowica, Slivovitza, Schlivowitz, Slivovitsa or Slivovica is a fruit brandy made from damson plums, often referred to as plum brandy. Slivovitz is produced in East-Central and South-East Europe both commercially and privately. Primary producers are in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. In the Balkans, Slivovitz is considered a kind of Rakia, in Hungary Pálinka and in the Czech Republic and Slovakia Pálenka, corresponding to the distilled spirits category.
The word slivovitz is a borrowing from a shared Slavic word for plum or (more specifically) for damson plum:Croatian: šljiva, Serbian: šljiva/шљива – damson plum, Czech: slíva, Polish: śliwka or Slovak: slivka + postfix -vice or -vica /vɪtsa/ to indicate the food from which it was distilled. For example, Czech meruňka apricot → meruňkovice apricot brandy; broskev peach → broskvovice peach brandy.
The primary producers are Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.