Serbians may refer to people who are identified with the country of Serbia, or people of the Serb ethnic group.

However it could also be used as the translation of Serbian word "Србијанци" (Srbijanci), especially when distinction is made between the two. In a similar way, adjectives "Serb" and "Serbian" could be used to mean "of Serbs" and "of Serbia", respectively, though they too are used interchangeably.

In the Serbian language, Srbijanci are Serbs from Central Serbia, or broader, from Serbia. Not all Serbians are Serbs, nor all Serbs are Serbians. The term Serbians (Srbijanci) excludes ethnic Serbs who are from neighboring countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro or Macedonia. An English speaker might use the word "Serbians" to mean "Serbs". Further confusions issues as in English the word "Serbs" may be used to refer to ethnic Serbs, or to citizens of Serbia regardless of their ethnicity, and going from there, word "Serbians" could be used in the same way.

Though most people, to whom the term Serbians could be applied, find the term Srbijanci insulting, one of the songs usually played at social gatherings in Central Serbia has in the refrain the words "..jelek, anterija i opanci, po tome se znaju Srbijanci...", meaning "...jelek, anterija, and opanaks – , is how you recognize a Srbijanac...". The song describes the Serbian dress of people from Central Serbia. However, the term here is used as a literary expression and its definition is uncertain. It cannot be considered as part of mainstream language as its frequency and usage in Serbian is minimal. Some explanation is that Serbs from Serbia most probably would recognize term Srbijanac as an insult, so it should be avoided.