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

But banning Greek life punishes the innocent while making the guilty harder to catch.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The almost 400 interceptors that remain are augmented by a Greek army contingent with a Patriot missile battery and roughly 100 soldiers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

A speech at the Pnyx, where Athenians once gathered for popular assemblies that birthed democracy, provided a perfect opportunity to link America First to ancient Greek statecraft.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026

Brand went on to establish a Hollywood career, starring in films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Divers harvesting sponges on the ocean floor using only a hollow reed to breathe through remained a prime industry on the Greek islands.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

The Greeks organized civic life around “contest, ambition, competition,” he added.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Nora explains to the counselor running a workplace mental health seminar that the Greeks viewed anger as a kind of insanity, but with different diagnostic profiles.

From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2026

“Like the Greeks, Ibsen uses the family as an image of society,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

Ankara recently complained about Athens shutting down Turkish-language schools, a move the Greeks blamed on declining pupil numbers.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

Indeed, the Greeks went overboard when it came to numbers.

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