greek
/ɡɹiːk/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.50 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Synonym of incomprehensible, used for foreign speech or text, technical jargon, or advanced subjects.
Colloquial
adj
Of or relating to collegiate fraternities, sororities, or (uncommon) honor societies.
American usage
name
The language spoken by people of Greece, particularly, depending on context, Ancient Greek or Modern Greek.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Sanskrit, Greek, Slavonic, Germanic, and Celtic names were all of this type, but there are also shorter names formed from the compound ones; […]."
- "The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates promoted wine for various purposes, including reducing fevers and dressing wounds."
- "“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”."
- "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 the actors acted, and between this foreign people and ourselves there is not only difference of race and tongue but a tremendous breach of tradition. All the more strange, then, is it that we should wish to know Greek, try to know Greek, feel for ever drawn back to Greek, and be for ever making up some notion of the meaning of Greek, though from what incongruous odds and ends, with what slight resemblance to the real meaning of Greek, who shall say?"
- "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."
Etymology
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 their usual names consisting of Greek letters.
Origin
- Source language: Old English
Word Breakdown
- Root: Grēcas, *Krēkō, Graecus, grec
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Greek alphabet
Greek arts
Greek calends
Greek Catholic
Greek Catholicism
Greek chorus
Greek Christian Scriptures
Greek cross
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
incomprehensible
used for foreign speech or text
technical jargon
or advanced subjects
gibberish
lorem ipsum
dummy placeholder text used in greeking
Grecian
Greco-
Greek
Hellenic
Helleno-