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

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

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

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

I recognize the Armenian and Greek kids who go to church with their families, the Muslim Turkish kids who go to the mosque with their families.

From Literature

The Premier League side have also completed a loan deal for Greek goalkeeper Christos Mandas from Italian Serie A side Lazio.

From BBC

Greek mythology became a North Star for understanding very complicated characters in my own life.

From Los Angeles Times

Greek investigators on Tuesday were looking into the causes of a fire that killed five workers at a biscuit factory in the country's worst industrial accident in years.

From Barron's

Based on the Greek epic by Homer, Nolan’s film stars Matt Damon as the titular king of Ithaca on his way home after the Trojan War.

From Los Angeles Times