The history of the Slovak language is deeply intertwined with the cultural and political evolution of Slovakia. Slovak, a West Slavic language, has roots in the Old Church Slavonic language, which was brought to the region by the Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. Over time, Slovak evolved from the Proto-Slavic dialects spoken in the area, and by the 12th century, distinct regional dialects emerged. During the Hungarian Kingdom’s rule (from the 11th century to the 16th century), Slovak faced heavy influence from Hungarian and Latin, especially in written forms, with the official use of Hungarian in government and the church, limiting Slovak's development in formal settings.

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The modern Slovak language began to take shape in the 18th and 19th centuries with the rise of the national awakening, spurred by the desire for Slovak cultural and linguistic identity. Pioneers like Ľudovít Štúr standardized the language in 1843, drawing from the central Slovak dialect and creating a unified orthography. Slovak continued to evolve through periods of both repression and revitalization during the 20th century, especially under Czechoslovak rule. After Slovakia gained independence in 1993, the Slovak language became the official language of the country, continuing to develop in the context of a globalized world while maintaining its cultural significance as a symbol of national pride.