Map - Vinkovci (Grad Vinkovci)

Vinkovci is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city's registered population was 28,247 in the 2021 census, the total population of the city was 31,057, making it the largest town of the county. Surrounded by many large villages, it is a local transport hub, particularly because of its railways.

The name Vinkovci comes from the Croatian given name Vinko, cognate to the name Vincent. It has been in use following a dedication of the oldest town church of Saint Elijah (Sveti Ilija) to Saint Vincent the Deacon (Sveti Vinko) in the Middle Ages. The name of the city in Croatian is plural.

It was called Cibalae in antiquity. There is no known Latin or Greek etymology for Cibalae, so it is assumed to be inherited from an earlier time. Cibale is a toponym derived from geomorphology, from Indo-European meaning "ascension" or "head".

It is assumed that the root is in Proto-Indo-European (head), in the sense of a hill, meaning a place that was protected from the flooding of Bosut.

Those who advocate that Illyrian was a satem language generally advocate that it comes from. Those who advocate the theory that Illyrian was a centum language generally advocate that it comes from Proto-Indo-European words (house) and (strong), so that it means "strong house".

In other historically and demographically relevant languages the name of the city is Winkowitz, Vinkovce, Винковци, Винковцѣ, Colonia Aurelia Cibalae and Κιβέλαι Kibelae.