Nearby Words
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to Greece, the Greeks, or their language.
2.
pertaining to the Greek Orthodox Church.
3.
noting or pertaining to the alphabetical script derived from a Semitic form of writing and employing some letters that originally represented consonants for vowel sounds, which was used from about the beginning of the first millennium b.c. for the writing of Greek, and from which the Latin, Cyrillic, and other alphabets were derived.
noun
4.
a native or inhabitant of Greece.
5.
the language of the ancient Greeks and any of the languages that have developed from it, as Hellenistic Greek, Biblical Greek, the Koine, and Modern Greek. Abbreviation: Gk, Gk.
6.
Informal. anything unintelligible, as speech, writing, etc.: This contract is Greek to me.
7.
a member of the Greek Church.
8.
EXPANDHellenic (def. 3).
9.
a person who belongs to a Greek-letter fraternity or sorority.
10.
COLLAPSEArchaic. a cheater, especially one who cheats at cards: usually considered offensive.
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Greeks
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| the offspring of a zebra and a donkey. |
Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English Grēcas (plural) < Latin Graecī the Greeks (nominative plural of Graecus) < Greek Graikoí, plural of Graikós Greek
before 900; Middle English; Old English Grēcas (plural) < Latin Graecī the Greeks (nominative plural of Graecus) < Greek Graikoí, plural of Graikós Greek
Related forms
Greek·dom, noun
Greek·ish, adjective
an·ti-Greek, adjective, noun
half-Greek, adjective
non-Greek, adjective, noun
EXPANDpre-Greek, adjective, noun
pro-Greek, adjective, noun
pseu·do-Greek, adjective, noun
qua·si-Greek, adjective
COLLAPSE
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Greeks
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
Greek
O.E. Crecas (pl.), early Gmc. borrowing from L. Græci "the Hellenes," from Gk. Grakoi. Aristotle, who was the first to use Graikhos as equivalent to Hellenes ("Meteorologica" I.xiv) wrote that it was the name originally used by Illyrians for the Dorians in Epirus, from Graii, native name of the
EXPANDpeople of Epirus. But a modern theory (put forth by Ger. classical historian Georg Busolt, 1850-1920), derives it from Graikhos "inhabitant of Graia" (lit. "gray"), a town on the coast of Boeotia, which was the name given by the Romans to all Greeks, originally to the Gk. colonists from Graia who helped found Cumae (9c. B.C.E.), the important city in southern Italy where the Latins first encountered Greeks. It was reborrowed in this general sense by the Greeks. Meaning "unintelligible speech, gibberish" is from 1600. Meaning "Greek letter fraternity member" is student slang, 1900.
COLLAPSE
"It was subtle of God to learn Greek when he wished to become an author -- and not to learn it better." [Nietzsche, "Beyond Good and Evil," 1886]The Turkish name for the country is Yunanistan, lit. "Land of the Ionians," hence Arabic, Hindi Yunan. Greek gift is from "Æneid," II.49: "timeo Danaos et dona ferentes." The Gmc. languages originally borrowed the word with an initial -k- sound (cf. O.H.G. Chrech, Goth. Kreks), which was probably their initial sound closest to the Latin -g- at the time; the word was later refashioned.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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