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• demotic
  demotic

  adjective

  of or relating to the ordinary, everyday, current form of a language; vernacular.
• Demotic
  Demotic

  noun

  the spoken form of Modern Greek, now increasingly used in literature Compare Katharevusa

demotic

American  

[dih-mot-ik] / dɪˈmɒt ɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the ordinary, everyday, current form of a language; vernacular.

   a poet with a keen ear for demotic rhythms.

2. of or relating to the common people; popular.

3. of, relating to, or noting the simplified form of hieratic writing used in ancient Egypt between 700 b.c. and a.d. 500.

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noun

1. demotic script.

2. Also called Romaic. (initial capital letter) the Modern Greek vernacular (distinguished from Katharevusa).

demotic ¹ British  

/ dɪˈmɒtɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the common people; popular

2. of or relating to a simplified form of hieroglyphics used in ancient Egypt by the ordinary literate class outside the priesthood Compare hieratic

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noun

1. the demotic script of ancient Egypt

Demotic ² British  

/ dɪˈmɒtɪk /

noun

1. the spoken form of Modern Greek, now increasingly used in literature Compare Katharevusa

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adjective

1. denoting or relating to this

Other Word Forms

• demotist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of demotic

1815–25; < Greek dēmotikós popular, plebeian, equivalent to dēmót ( ēs ) a plebeian (derivative of dêmos; see demo-) + -ikos -ic

Explanation

A demotic saying or expression is casual, colloquial, and used by the masses. Some forms of the Greek and Egyptian languages are also called demotic, which will be relevant to you when you get your PhD in Classics. Demotic comes from the Greek word demotikos, meaning "of or for the common people" or "in common use." Members of the aristocracy don’t typically use demotic idioms, but it is often the elite who will point out that something is demotic. Of course, in a classless society, everything ought to be demotic, therefore making it obsolete to designate sayings as demotic. So far, however, demotic is still a relevant term.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

demotic Demotic

With a voice that is relatively light and raspy and a delivery both nimble and demotic, Mr. Dale matches his energy to the text in a way that makes for effortless listening.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

Beside the "beautifully and accurately carved" sphinx, archaeologists also found a Roman-era stone slab with demotic and hieroglyphic inscriptions.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2023

He would waffle in demotic English and then answer a charge with a quotation from Seneca.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2022

Her prose could be lush, or raw and demotic, or carefree and eccentric, often on a single page.

From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2019

There was another language used by the ancient Egyptians, and expressed in what is called the demotic or enchorial character.

From Notes and Queries, Vol. IV, Number 103, October 18, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Various

Another inscription on the vessel is written in Demotic script, a simplified form of ancient Egyptian writing.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 18, 2025

The use of Egyptian hieroglyphs, for example, continued for centuries until it was ultimately replaced by Meroitic, an alpha-syllabic script derived from the Egyptian Demotic script.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Bearing inscriptions of the same text in Hieroglyphs, Demotic and Ancient Greek, it was used by Frenchman Jean-Francois Champollion to decipher Hieroglyphs from 1822, opening up understanding of ancient Egyptian language and culture.

From Reuters ● Oct. 5, 2022

And the three bands of text — classical Greek, hieroglyphs and an Egyptian shorthand called Demotic — were intended to proclaim the monarch’s achievements in multiple tongues to the peoples of the empire.

From New York Times ● Oct. 19, 2021

In the notebook which had come down with other belongings of Ferlini the Egyptologist, to Ferlini the artist, was a copy of certain Demotic writing, of a peculiar and little known form.

From It Happened in Egypt by C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson

Related Words

• conversational
• vernacular