Ukrainian is an Indo-European language that is part of the Slavic branch of the family. It evolved over hundreds of years in what is now Ukraine. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Ukrainian are Belarusian, Serbian, Slovene, Russian, and Polish.
- Belarusian (96.9)
Belarus is on Ukraine’s northern border. Belarusian is Ukrainian’s closest relative. They share a similar phonetic system, grammar, and vocabulary, with many cognates and parallel grammatical structures. However, Belarusian is more influenced by Polish, while Ukrainian shows more influence from Old Church Slavonic and Russian. - Serbian (94.0)
Serbian is a South Slavic language that shares many grammatical features with Ukrainian, such as the case system and verb conjugation. It also uses the Cyrillic alphabet, making written forms easier to compare. However, the vocabulary and phonology of Serbian diverge significantly from Ukrainian, because of influences from other Balkan languages. - Slovene (93.3)
Like Serbian, Slovene is a South Slavic language but shares with Ukrainian the same Indo-European roots and similar grammatical concepts. Historical ties to other Slavic cultures help maintain some degree of mutual intelligibility in basic phrases. However, Slovene follows a few different phonetic and vocabulary patterns. - Russian (93.0)
Ukraine borders Russia and both were once part of the Soviet Union. Ukrainian is closely related to Russian, both being East Slavic languages. As such, they share a high degree of linguistic similarity. While there are differences in vocabulary and pronunciation, mutual intelligibility between Ukrainian and Russian speakers is relatively high. - Polish (92.2)
Polish is a West Slavic language but has had a significant historical and cultural influence on Ukrainian, especially during periods of Polish-Lithuanian rule. Many Ukrainian words and expressions reflect this shared history. But, Polish also has a distinct nasal vowel system that Ukrainian lacks.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)