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

Meterchen means "mother goose" in ancient Greek, while luti is Latin for "of the mud."

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

It recounts the titular hero's 10-year quest to return home from war and includes some of the most famous Ancient Greek myths, including one-eyed monster Cyclops and the Sirens.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

Hearing the poems recited in the epic Greek of antiquity would be a purist’s ideal—nothing more authentic than that—but who are we kidding?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

In a statement, Ryanair said its Friday morning flight from the Greek city of Thessaloniki to Germany's Memmingen returned "shortly after take-off when a passenger window dislodged inflight".

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

A starving Greek community defies Nazi soldiers by hanging out thousands of forbidden national flags.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

"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

The group - men and women of various nationalities, including some Greeks and Australians - is being transported by naval vessel to the southern coast of Crete, where they are expected to arrive at Atherinolakkos.

From BBC ● May 1, 2026

The Greeks first mentioned the “Keltoi” in the sixth century B.C.; later Greek and Roman writers labeled their brave northern adversaries barbarians, Gauls or Galatians.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026

By 1860, the practice of bleeding a patient is the last gasp of a treatment that goes back to the "bodily humors" theory of the ancient Greeks.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman