Kosovo (Kosova) in other languages: exonyms, Pristina and the XK code
Kosovo is Kosova in Albanian and Косово (Kosovo) in Serbian, officially Republika e Kosovës and Република Косово. ISO 3166-1 does not list it; XK is a user-assigned code. Its name follows in 125 languages and Pristina in 101, then the seven districts in Albanian and Serbian.
Official languagesAlbanian (shqip) and Serbian (srpski); Bosnian, Romani and Turkish in addition
Checked
- alpha-2
- XK
- alpha-3
- XKX
- numeric
Republika e Kosovës
Република КосовоRepublika Kosovo
- English
- KosovoRepublic of Kosovo
- Capital
- PrishtinaПриштинаPriština · Pristina
ISO 3166-1 has no entry for Kosovo. XK and XKX are user-assigned code elements, outside the standard, used among others by the European Commission; there is no numeric code. Source: Wikipedia's XK (user assigned code), checked 28 October 2026. Flag after the Wikimedia Commons drawing.
Kosovo in other languages: list of exonyms
| Languages | ISO 639 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Aragonese, Asturian, Breton, Catalan, Czech, Danish, Esperanto, Estonian, Basque, Faroese, Finnish, Kven, French, Franco-Provençal, West Frisian, Galician, Manx, Croatian, Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Jersey Norman French, Greenlandic, Kurmanji Kurdish, Limburgish, Maltese, Dutch, Norwegian, Novial, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Saterland Frisian, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Vietnamese | eng / arg / ast / bre / cat / ces / dan / epo / est / eus / fao / fin / fkv / fra / frp / fry / glg / glv / hrv / ind / ita / jav / jnf / kal / kur / lim / mlt / nld / nor / nov / ron / slk / slv / stq / swa / swe / tgl / vie | Kosovo | same as written |
| Cornish, Latvian, Occitan, Albanian, Turkish, Zazaki | cor / lav / oci / sqi / tur / zza | Kosova | same as written |
| Afrikaans, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, Polish | afr / dsb / hsb / pol | Kosowo | same as written |
| Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Moldovan | aze / crh / mol | Kosovo / Косово | Kosovo |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Kosovo | same as written |
| Nahuatl, Romansh | nah / roh | Cosovo | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Kosovo / Косово / قۉسۉوۉ | Kosovo |
| Welsh | cym | Cosofo, Kosovo | same as written |
| Irish | gle | An Chosaiv / An Ċosaiv | same as written |
| Hungarian | hun | Koszovó | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Kosóvó | same as written |
| Latin | lat | Ager Merulensis, Praevalis, Cossovo | same as written |
| Lithuanian | lit | Kosovas | same as written |
| Malay | msa | Kosovo / كوسوۏو | Kosovo |
| Portuguese | por | Kosovo, Kossovo, Cossovo | same as written |
| Quechua | que | Kusuwu | same as written |
| Aromanian | rup | Cosova | same as written |
| Sicilian | scn | Kòssuvu | same as written |
| Samogitian | smg | Kuosuovs | same as written |
| Spanish | spa | Kosovo, Kósovo | same as written |
| Turkmen | tuk | Kosowo / Косово | Kosowo |
| Uzbek | uzb | Kosovo / Косово / كاساۋا | Kosovo |
| Old Church Slavonic | chu | Ко́сово | Kósovo |
| Abkhaz, Bulgarian, Chuvash, Kabardian, Komi, Karachay-Balkar, Lezgi, Meadow Mari, Macedonian, Mongolian, Ossetian, Rusyn, Russian, Udmurt, Ukrainian, Kalmyk | abk / bul / chv / kbd / kom / krc / lez / mhr / mkd / mon / oss / rue / rus / udm / ukr / xal | Косово | Kosovo |
| Bashkir, Kurdish (Caucasus, Cyrillic), Serbian | bak / kmr / srp | Косово / Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Avar | ava | Косово | Kosowo |
| Belarusian | bel | Косава / Kosava | Kosava |
| Kazakh | kaz | Косово / كوسوۆو / Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Косово / كوسوۋو / Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Yakut | sah | Косова | Kosova |
| Tatar | tat | Косово / Kosovo / كوسوۋو | Kosovo |
| Tajik | tgk | Косово / کاساوا / Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Arabic | ara | كوسوفو | Kūsūfū |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | کوسووو / Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | کۆسۆڤۆ / Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Persian | fas | کوزوو / Kozovo, کوسوو / Kosovo | Kozovo, Kosovo |
| Uyghur | uig | كوسوۋو / Kosowo / Косово | Kosowo |
| Urdu | urd | کوسووہ | Kōsōvâ |
| Hebrew | heb | קוסובו | Qōsōṿō |
| Ladino | lad | קוסובﬞו / Kosovo | Kosovo |
| Yiddish | yid | קאָסאָװאָ | Kosovo |
| Greek | ell | Κοσσυφοπέδιο, Κόσοβο | Kossyfopédio, Kósovo |
| Armenian | hye | Կոսովո | Kosovo |
| Georgian, Mingrelian | kat / xmf | კოსოვო | Kosovo |
| Laz | lzz | კოსოვა / K’osova | K’osova |
| Hindi | hin | कोसोवो | Kosovo |
| Marathi | mar | कोसोव्हो | Kosowho |
| Bengali | ben | কসোভো | Kôsobʰo |
| Sinhala | sin | කොසෝවෝව | Kosōvōva |
| Kannada | kan | ಕೊಸೊವೊ | Kosovo |
| Tamil | tam | கொசோவோ | Kocōvō |
| Chinese | zho | 科索沃 | Kēsuǒwò |
| Japanese | jpn | コソボ | Kosobo |
| Korean | kor | 코소보 | Kosobo |
| Tibetan | bod | ཁོ་སོ་ཝོ། | Kʰo.so.wo |
| Thai | tha | คอซอวอ | Kʰɔ̄sɔ̄wɔ̄ |
| Khmer | khm | កូសូវ៉ូ | Kūsūvū |
Latin lists three forms: Ager Merulensis, the field of blackbirds, Praevalis and Cossovo. Greek gives the translated Kossyfopédio before the borrowed Kósovo.
Kosovo, Kosova and the field of blackbirds
English uses the Serbian form, Kosovo (Косово), and Albanian has Kosova, with the indefinite form Kosovë; the official names are Republika e Kosovës and Република Косово. Serbian Kosovo is the possessive adjective of kos, blackbird, short for Kosovo Polje, the Blackbird Field. Two languages in the table translate that meaning instead of borrowing the word: Latin Ager Merulensis and Greek Κοσσυφοπέδιο (Kossyfopédio). Greek also uses the borrowed Κόσοβο.
Most languages follow either the Serbian o or the Albanian a. Kosovo is used from English and German to Croatian, Czech and Swedish, and in Cyrillic Косово from Russian to Mongolian. The Albanian-like Kosova appears in Turkish, Latvian, Cornish, Occitan and Zazaki, and Polish, Afrikaans and the Sorbian languages write Kosowo. Hungarian has Koszovó, Icelandic Kosóvó, Lithuanian Kosovas.
The capital shows the same split. Albanian Prishtina and Serbian Приштина, Priština, stand behind most forms: Prishtina in Albanian, Breton and Hungarian, Priština in Czech, Croatian and German, Pristina in English, Italian and Spanish. Turkish has Priştine, Polish Prisztina and Esperanto Priŝtino.
Pristina in other languages: Prishtina, Priština
| Languages | ISO 639 | Name | Romanised |
|---|---|---|---|
| English, Afrikaans, Aragonese, Asturian, Catalan, Danish, Basque, French, West Frisian, Galician, Indonesian, Italian, Javanese, Latin, Limburgish, Maltese, Dutch, Novial, Portuguese, Quechua, Romansh, Romanian, Sicilian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Vietnamese | eng / afr / arg / ast / cat / dan / eus / fra / fry / glg / ind / ita / jav / lat / lim / mlt / nld / nov / por / que / roh / ron / scn / spa / swe / tgl / vie | Pristina | same as written |
| Czech, Lower Sorbian, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, Croatian, Upper Sorbian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Slovak, Slovenian | ces / dsb / est / fao / fin / hrv / hsb / lav / lit / nor / slk / slv | Priština | same as written |
| Breton, Cornish, Manx, Hungarian, Greenlandic, Occitan, Albanian, Swahili | bre / cor / glv / hun / kal / oci / sqi / swa | Prishtina | same as written |
| Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar, Turkmen | aze / crh / tuk | Priştina / Приштина | Priştina |
| German, Luxembourgish, Low German | deu / ltz / nds | Priština | same as written |
| Bosnian | bos | Priština / Приштина / پرٖىشتٖىنا | Priština |
| Esperanto | epo | Priŝtino | same as written |
| Irish | gle | Pristina | same as written |
| Icelandic | isl | Pristína | same as written |
| Kurmanji Kurdish | kur | Prîştîna | same as written |
| Moldovan | mol | Priștina / Приштина | Priștina |
| Malay | msa | Pristina / ڤريستينا | Pristina |
| Nahuatl | nah | Prixtina | same as written |
| Polish | pol | Prisztina | same as written |
| Romanian | ron | Priștina | same as written |
| Aromanian | rup | Prishtinã | same as written |
| Samogitian | smg | Prėštėna | same as written |
| Turkish | tur | Priştine | same as written |
| Uzbek | uzb | Prishtina / Приштина / پرىشتىنە | Prishtina |
| Zazaki | zza | Priştina | same as written |
| Macedonian, Russian, Yakut | mkd / rus / sah | Приштина | Priština |
| Bashkir, Serbian | bak / srp | Приштина / Priština | Priština |
| Belarusian | bel | Прышціна / Pryšcina | Pryšcina |
| Bulgarian | bul | Прищина | Priština |
| Kazakh | kaz | Приштина / پريشتينا / Prïştïna | Prïştïna |
| Kyrgyz | kir | Приштина / پرئشتىنا / Priştina | Priştina |
| Ossetian | oss | Приштинӕ | Prištinä |
| Tatar | tat | Приштина / Priştina / پرىشتىنا | Priştina |
| Tajik | tgk | Приштина / پریشتینه / Priština | Priština |
| Ukrainian | ukr | Приштина | Pryštyna |
| Arabic | ara | برشتينا | Brištīnā |
| South Azerbaijani | azb | پریشتینا / Priştina | Priştina |
| Sorani Kurdish | ckb | پریشتینا / Prîştîna | Prîştîna |
| Persian | fas | پریشتینا / Prištinâ | Prištinâ |
| Uyghur | uig | پرىشتىنا / Prishtina / Приштина | Prishtina |
| Urdu | urd | پریستینا | Prīstīnā |
| Hebrew | heb | פרישטינה | Prīšṭīnah |
| Ladino | lad | פרישטינה / Prishtina | Prishtina |
| Yiddish | yid | פּרישטינע | Prištine |
| Greek | ell | Πρίστινα | Prístina |
| Armenian | hye | Պրիշտինա | Priština |
| Georgian | kat | პრიშტინა | Priština |
| Hindi | hin | प्रिस्टीना | Prisṭīnā |
| Marathi | mar | प्रिस्टिना | Prisṭinā |
| Bengali | ben | প্রিস্তিনা | Pristinā |
| Tamil | tam | பிறிஸ்டீனா | Piṛisṭīṉā |
| Chinese | zho | 普裏什蒂納/普里什蒂纳 | Pǔlǐshídìnà |
| Japanese | jpn | プリシュティナ | Purishutina |
| Korean | kor | 프리슈티나 | Peurisyutina |
| Tibetan | bod | པི་རི་སི་ཊི་ན། | Pi.ri.si.ṭi.na |
| Thai | tha | พริชตีนา | Prittīnā |
The seven districts in Albanian and Serbian
Kosovo is divided into seven districts, each named after its centre, in Albanian qarku i, district of, with the genitive, and in Serbian with an adjective before округ (okrug). The table gives both names and the centre in both languages. ISO 3166-2 has no entry for Kosovo, so the code column stays empty.
| ISO 3166-2 | Albanian | Serbian | English | Administrative centre | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Districts qarqet7 | |||||
| Qarku i Ferizajit | Урошевачки округUroševački okrug | Ferizaj District | FerizajiУрошевац / Uroševac | ||
| Qarku i Gjakovës | Ђаковички округĐakovički okrug | Gjakova District | GjakovaЂаковица / Đakovica | ||
| Qarku i Gjilanit | Гњилански округGnjilanski okrug | Gjilan District | GjilaniГњилане / Gnjilane | ||
| Qarku i Mitrovicës | Косовскомитровачки округKosovskomitrovački okrug | Mitrovica District | MitrovicaКосовска Митровица / Kosovska Mitrovica | ||
| Qarku i Pejës | Пећки округPećki okrug | Peja District | PejaПећ / Peć | ||
| Qarku i Prishtinës | Приштински округPrištinski okrug | Pristina District | PrishtinaПриштина / Priština | ||
| Qarku i Prizrenit | Призренски округPrizrenski okrug | Prizren District | PrizreniПризрен / Prizren | ||
Names and centres: the list before 2018; the centre is given in Albanian above and in Serbian Cyrillic and Latin below. ISO 3166-2:RS lists the same area as Kosovo-Metohija, RS-KM, with five districts coded RS-25 to RS-29, which differ from these seven (Wikipedia's ISO 3166-2:RS, checked 28 October 2026).
Why the code is XK
ISO 3166 has no code for Kosovo. The ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency adds a country only once it appears in the United Nations terminology bulletin or statistical country list, and ISO has stated that no code beginning with X will be standardised. The two-letter XK is therefore a user-assigned element that organisations agree to use among themselves; the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and Unicode are among them. The national anthem, Evropa, has no lyrics.
Questions about the names and code of Kosovo
Does Kosovo have an ISO 3166 code?
No. XK (alpha-2) and XKX (alpha-3) are user-assigned codes outside ISO 3166-1, used by the European Commission and others.
What is Pristina called in Albanian and Serbian?
Prishtina in Albanian and Приштина, Priština, in Serbian.
What does the name Kosovo mean?
It is the Serbian possessive adjective of kos, blackbird, short for Kosovo Polje, the Blackbird Field.