Greek

Of or relating to Greece, its people, its language, or its culture.

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to Greece, its people, its language, or its culture.
    • Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft. - 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith,...
    • Sanskrit, Greek, Slavonic, Germanic, and Celtic names were all of this type, but there are also shorter names formed from the compound ones; […]. - 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford...
    • The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates promoted wine for various purposes, including reducing fevers and dressing wounds. - 2022 January 22, Jonathan Reiner, “If you think that glass of wine is good for you, it’s time...
  2. Synonym of incomprehensible, used for foreign speech or text, technical jargon, or advanced subjects.

    Synonyms: incomprehensible used for foreign speech or text technical jargon or advanced subjects

  3. Of or relating to collegiate fraternities, sororities, or (uncommon) honor societies.
    • “Every single person is going to have a different experience watching this film,” she said when I asked about possibly labeling the Greek system as “toxic”. - 2023 May 24, Adrian Horton, “‘Competitive femininity’:...

Origin

Inherited from Old English Grēcas (“Greeks”), variant of Crēcas, from Proto-West Germanic *Krēkō, from Latin Graecus of uncertain origin, perhaps derived from the toponym Γραῖα (Graîa) or from other Paleo-Balkanic forms from a tribal name Graii. Greek in any case has the cognate Γραικός (Graikós), the mythological ancestor of the Γραίοι (Graíoi, “Graecians”). Germanic cognates include Dutch Griek, German Grieche. The ⟨g⟩ in English and Germanic cognates was restored under influence from French grec and classical Latin Graecus. The adjective dates to 14th-century Middle English, replacing Old English Grēċisċ (“Greekish”) and earlier Middle English Gregeis. In reference to fraternities and sororities, a clipping of earlier Greek-letter in reference to their usual names being initialisms of mottos in the Greek language. In reference to terms used to analysize financial derivatives, from...

Forms

Greeker Greekest Gr. Greeke

Synonyms

Grecian Greco- Greek Hellenic Helleno-

Hypernyms

senses relating to Greece Greeks ancient European Greco-Roman

Derived

Greek alphabet Greek arts Greek calends Greek Catholic Greek Catholicism Greek chorus Greek Christian Scriptures Greek cross Greekery Greekesque Greek Fathers Greek fire Greek foot Greek fret Greek fries Greek god Greek house Greekification Greekify Greekish Greekize Greek key Greek letter Greek life

Proper noun

  1. The language spoken by people of Greece, particularly, depending on context, Ancient Greek or Modern Greek.
    • For it is vain and foolish to talk of knowing Greek, since in our ignorance we should be at the bottom of any class of schoolboys, since we do not know how the words sounded, or where precisely we ought to laugh, or how...
    • It’s one that I would personally endorse: My individual circumstances were such that, by the age of 12, I could speak German, Greek and English, so languages became my passion and my hobby. - 2021 April 25, John...
  2. The written form of these languages.
  3. A surname.

Forms

Greeks Gr. Greeke

Related

Griko

Derived

Aeolic Greek Ancient Greek Arcadocypriot Greek Archaic Greek Attic Greek Byzantine Greek Cappadocian Greek Classical Greek Demotic Greek Doric Greek Epic Greek Greekless Greeklish Hellenistic Greek Homeric Greek Indo-Greek Ionic Greek it's all Greek to me Koine Greek Late Greek Mariupol Greek medical Greek Medieval Greek Middle Greek

Noun

  1. A person from Greece or of Greek descent.
    • The Greeks believed the sun went round the earth.
  2. Greek cuisine, traditional or representative Greek food.
  3. Synonym of gibberish, used for foreign speech or text, technical jargon, or advanced subjects.
    • "I don't hear one word in ten that they say," continued Mrs. Abingdon; "it's Greek to me. However, ..." - 1821, Mary Jane Mackenzie, Geraldine, page 8:
    • "It's all Greek to me," said my companion at the outset, but as the warrior continued, his fears arose within him; it might be sentence of death—what did he know what it might not be? - 1859, Kinahan Cornwallis, Two...
    • preferred risk... family maintenance... 20-pay life. That's a bare sampling of the merchandise you're asked to pick and choose from. If it sounds like Greek to you, don't worry. It sounds like Greek to most people. -...

    Synonyms: gibberish used for foreign speech or text technical jargon or advanced subjects

  4. Synonym of lorem ipsum, dummy placeholder text used in greeking.

    Synonyms: lorem ipsum dummy placeholder text used in greeking

  5. A member of a collegiate fraternity or sorority.
    • Was Joe a Greek in college?
  6. A cunning rogue.
    • The wind-up is, that the father becomes bankrupt; the wife and daughters town-traders; the sons Greeks, Fancy-swells, Conveyancers (pickpockets), or Cracksmen (house breakers), and the New Drop is the last drop they...
    • When Greek meets Greek neither is wont to get much satisfaction. - 1897, Stanley John Weyman, “The Deanery Ball”, in For the Cause:
  7. A merry fellow.
  8. Anal sex.
    • She is absolutely a total GFE, no limits, except no Greek. (Well...I say “no Greek” - - if she is really hot for you, and if she is really turned on in a long session, she might beg for a finger in her anus while you...
    • “What's within reason?” “Hand-job, blow-job, full sex — straight, full service. Greek, maybe, if you're not too big. Golden shower, if you like, but not reverse. No hardsports. And absolutely nothing without.” - 2012,...
  9. One of the Greeks, measures of derivative price sensitivity.

Forms

Greeks Gr. Greeke

Synonyms

anal sex Grecian Greek Greeke Hellene

Hypernyms

European person

Hyponyms

Arcadian Athenian Attican Corfiot Coan Corinthian Constantinopolitan Cretan Cypriot Delphian Eleusinian Epirot Euboean Griko Ionian Lacedaemonian Lesbian Lesviot Macedonian Megarian Minoan Naxiot Olympian Peloponnesian

Related

Griko

Derived

Greek active Greekdom Greek Empire Greekess Greek fire Greek gift Greek it Greekland Greekling Greek passive

Verb

  1. To cheat at cards.
    • A discovery of Greeking at Brighton, has made considerable noise this month in the sporting world. - 1817, Sporting Magazine, number 50, page 284:
  2. Alternative letter-case form of greek.

Forms

Greeks Greeking Greeked Gr. Greeke

Related

Dimotiki Dhimotiki Hellenic Hellenism Hellenistic Hellenize Katharevousa Koine Wiktionary’s coverage of Greek terms Greek–English Dictionary: from Webster’s Dictionary el ell ell ⁠

Wikipedia

Greek