Why does the word listopad refer to different months in Croatian, Polish, and Czech?

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Map of Europe showing the geographic distribution of Slavic languages, color-coded by language group: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian), West Slavic (Polish, Kashubian, Czech, Slovak, Sorbian), and South Slavic (Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian). Striped areas indicate regions where bilingualism is common. — Slavic languages Distribution of the Slavic languages in Europe.

The word listopad—which translates literally to "leaf-fall"—refers to different months across Slavic languages due to regional variations in the timing of seasonal changes and the historical development of Slavic languages.

While the term is used to describe the period when leaves fall from trees, the specific month associated with this phenomenon varies based on the local climate and agricultural traditions of the regions where these languages evolved. Consequently, listopad is designated as October in Croatian, whereas it is used to denote November in both Polish and Czech.1