Balkan

American

[bawl-kuhn] / ˈbɔl kən /

adjective

pertaining to the Balkan States or their inhabitants.
pertaining to the Balkan Peninsula.
pertaining to the Balkan Mountains.

noun

the Balkans. Balkan States.

Balkan British

/ ˈbɔːlkən /

adjective

of, denoting, or relating to the Balkan States or their inhabitants, the Balkan Peninsula, or the Balkan Mountains

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of Balkan

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Both have been released after a judge gave them credit for a period of house arrest in Montenegro, the tiny Balkan country where federal investigators tracked them after the warehouse raid.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

The Balkan state is now served by several UK airline routes and is popular among people who want to visit Greece, Italy and Croatia - but don't want to spend a full holiday there.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

And the Balkan Five have gone from niche college hoops phenomenon to March Madness steamroller.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

In the Balkan nation's capital, where the men are still widely seen as heroes of the country's independence struggle, former KLA members gathered to watch the trial together on television.

From Barron's • Feb. 9, 2026

They had continued to leave during the Balkan Wars.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023