Slovak people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (c. 5.5–6 million) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Slovakia 4,352,775 |
|
 United States
|
810,000 |
 Czech Republic
|
147,152 |
 Canada
|
100,000 |
 Serbia
|
52,750 |
 Austria
|
35,450 |
 Hungary
|
29,647 |
 Germany
|
25,200 |
 France
|
23,000 |
 Argentina
|
22,500 |
 Romania
|
17,226 |
 Italy
|
15,000 |
 Australia
|
12,000 |
 Ireland
|
10,801 |
 United Kingdom
|
85,000 |
 Ukraine
|
6,397 |
 Croatia
|
4,712 |
 Belgium
|
4,000 |
 Brazil
|
3,000 |
 Chile
|
2,300 |
 Poland
|
2,000 |
 Netherlands
|
1,800 |
 Spain
|
1,600 |
 Israel
|
1,500 |
 South Africa
|
800 |
| Languages | |
| Slovak | |
| Religion | |
| Majority Roman Catholicism, Protestantism Minority Eastern Orthodoxy |
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other West Slavs such as Czechs, Poles and other Slavs, Hungarians, Austrians, Germans, Lithuanians | |
The Slovaks or Slovak people (Slovak: Slováci, singular Slovák, feminine Slovenka, plural Slovenky) are a nation and West Slavic ethnic group native to Slovakia who speak the Slovak language.
Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia, c. 4.4 million ethnic Slovaks of 5.4 million total population. There are Slovak minorities in Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia and sizeable populations of immigrants and their descendants in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The name Slovak is derived from *Slověninъ, plural *Slověně, the old name of the Slavs. In the Slovak language; only the masculine noun Slověninъ, Slověn changed to Slovän, Slovan and finally (under Czech and Polish influence) to Slovák around 1400. The older form Sloven is preserved in all similar words in the Slovak language – the adjective "Slovak" is still slovenský, the feminine noun "Slovak" is still Slovenka and the country is Slovensko.
The first written mention about usage of the new form Slovak in the territory of present-day Slovakia is from Bardejov (1444) – "Nicoulaus Cossibor hauptman, Nicolaus Czech et Slowak, stipendiarii supremi". The mentions in Czech sources are older – 1375 and 1385. The change is not related to ethnogenesis of Slovaks, but exclusively to linguistic changes in the West Slavic languages. The word Slovak was also used later as a common name for all Slavs in Czech, Polish and also Slovak language in parallel with other forms.
The Slovaks and Slovenes are the only current Slavic nations that have preserved the original name. For Slovenes, the adjective is still slovenski and the feminine noun "Slovene" is still also Slovenka, but the masculine noun has since changed to Slovenec. The Slovak name for their language is slovenčina and the Slovene name for theirs is slovenščina. The Slovak term for the Slovene language is slovinčina; and the Slovenes call Slovak slovaščina. The name is derived from proto-Slavic form slovo "word, talk" (cf. Slovak sluch, which comes from the IE root *ḱlew-). Thus Slovaks as well as Slovenians would mean "people who speak (the same language)", i.e. people who understand each other.
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