ljepota

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• lepota (Ekavian)
• lipota (Ikavian)
• lěpota (obsolete, Croatia)

Etymology

From lijep +‎ -ota.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʎepǒta/
• Hyphenation: lje‧po‧ta

Noun

ljepòta f (Cyrillic spelling љепо̀та)

1. beauty
   • 1551, Marin Darxich, “[Cemuie priuerno (iaoh) moie sluxenie?]”, in Piesni Marina Darxichia viedno stavgliene smnosim drvsim liepim stvarmi‎^[1], published 1607, page 14:

     Lip obras, suitloſti ki ſunzu odſiua,
     Araiske liposti lipotom dobiua,

     Lip obraz, svitlosti ki suncu odsiva,
     A rajske liposti lipotom dobiva

     A beautiful visage, which shines back at the Sun,
     And overpowers heavenly beauties with its beauty

2. a beautiful thing

   ljepota djevojka ― a beautiful girl (literary)

3. (archaic, poetic) glory, the most beautiful (typically: ljepota od [genitive])
   • 1551, Marin Darxich, “Comedia [...] odunda maroia [= Dundo Maroje]”, in Stracci di prose e di versi, tolti dalla Komedie di Marino Darscich [Rešetarov rukopis], published ~1550, page 36r:

     N/ mile ciuo sam daimax gospogiu
     po/ liepotu od suieta

     Niko: Mile, čuo sam da imaš gospođu.
     Pijero: Ljepotu od svijeta!

     Niko: Mile, I've heard you've got a mistress.
     Pijero: The most beautiful in the world!

Declension

Declension of ljepota

	singular	plural
nominative	ljepòta	ljepòte
genitive	ljepòtē	ljepótā
dative	ljepòti	ljepòtama
accusative	ljepòtu	ljepòte
vocative	ljȅpoto / ljepòto	ljepòte
locative	ljepòti	ljepòtama
instrumental	ljepòtōm	ljepòtama

Declension of ljepota (archaic accentual pattern)

	singular	plural
nominative	ljepòta	ljȅpote
genitive	ljepòtē	ljepótā
dative	ljȅpoti	ljepòtama
accusative	ljȅpotu	ljȅpote
vocative	ljȅpoto	ljȅpote
locative	ljepòti	ljepòtama
instrumental	ljepòtōm	ljepòtama

In the second paradigm, the forms with ◌̏ accent have a non-weakened accent shift: nȁ ljepotu.

Synonyms

• krasota
• baj
• divota

Related terms

• lijepost

References

• “ljepota” in Hrvatski jezični portal
• Vukušić, Stjepan, Zoričić, Ivan, Graselli-Vukušić, Marija (2007) Naglasak u hrvatskome književnom jeziku (Velika hrvatska gramatika; 4), Zagreb: Globus, →ISBN, §287, page 80
• Даничић, Ђуро (1925) Милан Решетар, editor, Српски акценти, Београд-Земун: Српска краљевска академија, Именице на -а: II,6, page 11
• Pero Budmani, Tomislav Maretić, editor (1904–1910), “ļepòta”, in Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika‎^[2] (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 6, Zagreb: JAZU, page 246