Hellenic

[he-len-ik, -lee-nik]

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of the ancient Greeks or their language, culture, thought, etc., especially before the time of Alexander the Great.Compare Hellenistic(def 3).
Greek.

noun

Also called Greek. a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, comprising a variety of ancient, medieval, and modern dialects and languages, all of them called Greek.
Katharevusa.

Origin of Hellenic

First recorded in 1635–45, Hellenic is from the Greek word Hellēnikós of, pertaining to the Greeks. See Hellene, -ic

Related formsHel·len·i·cal·ly, adverbnon-Hel·len·ic, adjectivepre-Hel·len·ic, adjectivepro-Hel·len·ic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for hellenic

classic, humanistic, academic, attic, Latin, Hellenic, Doric, Greek, roman, scholastic, Ionic, Grecian, bookish, canonical, Augustan, Homeric, Virgilian, belletristic

Examples from the Web for hellenic

Historical Examples of hellenic

And will not the city, which you are founding, be an Hellenic city?
The Republic
Plato
Again, as to the devastation of Hellenic territory or the burning of houses, what is to be the practice?
The Republic
Plato
Phidias it is not, but the work of man in that early Hellenic world that I would know.
Essays, First Series
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Important for the conception of Hellenic democracy (cf. 17).
Cyropaedia
Xenophon
Is it simply and solely Oriental, or general, and Hellenic also?
Cyropaedia
Xenophon

British Dictionary definitions for hellenic

Hellenic

adjective

of or relating to the ancient or modern Greeks or their language
of or relating to ancient Greece or the Greeks of the classical period (776–323 bc)Compare Hellenistic
another word for Greek

noun

a branch of the Indo-European family of languages consisting of Greek in its various ancient and modern dialects

Derived FormsHellenically, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hellenic

Hellenic

adj.

"pertaining to Greece," 1640s, from Greek Hellenikos, from Hellen "a Greek," of unknown origin. Earliest surviving use is by Homer in reference to a Thessalian tribe.