Greek

American  

[greek] / grik /

adjective

1. of or relating to Greece, the Greeks, or their language.

2. pertaining to the Greek Orthodox Church.

3. noting or pertaining to the alphabetic script derived from a Semitic form of writing, employing some letters that originally represented consonants for use as 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.

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noun

Greeks plural

1. a native or inhabitant of Greece.

2. 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. Gk, Gk.

3. Informal. anything unintelligible, as speech, writing, etc..

   This contract is all Greek to me.

4. a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.

5. Hellenic.

6. a person who belongs to a Greek-letter fraternity or sorority.

7. Archaic: Usually Offensive. a cheater, especially one who cheats at cards.

Greek British  

/ ɡriːk /

noun

1. the official language of Greece, constituting the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European family of languages See Ancient Greek Late Greek Medieval Greek Modern Greek

2. a native or inhabitant of Greece or a descendant of such a native

3. a member of the Greek Orthodox Church

4. informal anything incomprehensible (esp in the phrase it's ( all ) Greek to me )

5. equals meet

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adjective

1. denoting, relating to, or characteristic of Greece, the Greeks, or the Greek language; Hellenic

2. of, relating to, or designating the Greek Orthodox Church

Sensitive Note

The noun Greek in its archaic meaning of “cheater” is usually perceived as insulting to or by Greeks.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Greekdom
  noun
• Greekness
  noun
• Greekish
  adjective
• anti-Greek
  adjective
• half-Greek
  adjective
• non-Greek
  adjective
• pre-Greek
  adjective
• pro-Greek
  adjective
• pseudo-Greek
  adjective
• quasi-Greek
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Greeks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Greek

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English Grēcas (plural) from Latin Graecī “the Greeks” (nominative plural of Graecus ) from Greek Graikoí, plural of Graikós Greek

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Greek Greeks

At similar fro-yo chains across the U.S., like Mimi’s, KALA, Culture Club and Go Greek, some customers have said they have paid upwards of $20 for larger sizes and more toppings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Throughout all three hours of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” — the acclaimed writer-director’s take on the ancient Greek epic attributed to Homer — I repeatedly returned to one question.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

Got stuff to make a Greek salad instead, since those are easily washed and peeled,” Berger wrote to me.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026

The band's founding member and main songwriter, Justin Currie, explained in 2010 that the band's name "was invented to be meaningless – basically a corruption of the Greek name 'Dimitri'."

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

At college, she took classes in English, Greek, and philosophy.

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Inside this claustrophobic wooden beast, Odysseus and his wild and bloodthirsty Greeks are crammed cheek-to-sandal so tightly that you can’t imagine how they’ll spring into action without first getting a massage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

In Nolan's world, the horse - dreamt up by the wily Odysseus to trick the Trojan army and get the Greeks into Troy - doesn't have wheels.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

"But Greeks, because of their low wages, can no longer rent or buy property here".

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

For thousands of years, the ancient city of Sardis in western Turkey changed hands as Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans rose and fell.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 25, 2026

It simply didn’t make any sense to the Greeks.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife