** Slav, member of the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in
Europe, residing chiefly in eastern and southeastern Europe but extending also across northern
Asia to the
Pacific Ocean.
Slavic languages belong to the
Indo-European family. Customarily, Slavs are subdivided into
East Slavs (chiefly Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians),
West Slavs (chiefly Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Wends, or Sorbs), and
South Slavs (chiefly Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Montenegrins).
Bulgarians, though of mixed origin like the Hungarians, speak a Slavic language and are often designated as South Slavs. (
See Bulgar.)