WordCodex

Greek

See also: greek

Greek - English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • enPR: grēk, IPA: /ɡɹiːk/

Adjective

Greek (comparative Greeker, superlative Greekest)

  1. Of or relating to Greece, its people, its language, or its culture
  2. (figurative, colloquial) Synonym of incomprehensible, used for foreign speech or text, technical jargon, or advanced subjects.
  3. (US, not comparable) Of or relating to collegiate fraternities, sororities, and/or (uncommon) honor societies.

Usage notes

Presently, it's more common to refer to college fraternities and sororities as Greek life etc., while Greek-letter is still used in reference to honor societies using similar names.

Synonyms

  • (senses relating to Greece, Greeks, and Greek): See Greek

Hypernyms

  • (senses relating to Greece, Greeks, and Greek): Greco-Roman

Derived terms

Translations

Proper noun

Greek (countable and uncountable, plural Greeks)

  1. The language spoken by people of Greece, particularly (depending on context) Ancient Greek or Modern Greek.
  2. The written form of these languages.
  3. A surname.

Usage notes

In modern contexts including Wiktionary's entries, Greek is used for the language of modern Greece and Ancient Greek or one of its synonyms for the language of antiquity. In discussion of antiquity, Greek is frequently used to mean the ancient form sometimes inclusive of Koine and Modern Greek or one of its synonyms is used to distinguish the modern language. In all cases, minor dialects like Ionic Greek are distinguished unless absolutely clear from context.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Greek (countable and uncountable, plural Greeks)

  1. (countable) A person from Greece or of Greek descent.
  2. (uncountable) Greek cuisine, traditional or representative Greek food.
  3. (uncountable, figurative, colloquial) Synonym of gibberish, used for foreign speech or text, technical jargon, or advanced subjects.
  4. (uncountable, figurative, colloquial) Synonym of lorem ipsum, dummy placeholder text used in greeking.
  5. (countable, US, colloquial) A member of a collegiate fraternity or sorority.
    • Was Joe a Greek in college?
  6. (countable, archaic) A cunning rogue.
  7. (countable, archaic) A merry fellow.
  8. (uncountable, slang) Anal sex.
  9. (finance, chiefly in the plural) One of the Greeks, measures of derivative price sensitivity.

Synonyms

  • (person from Greece or a descendant): See Greek
  • (anal sex): See anal sex

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

Greek (third-person singular simple present Greeks, present participle Greeking, simple past and past participle Greeked)

  1. (obsolete) To cheat at cards.
  2. (uncommon) Alternative letter-case form of greek.

Anagrams

Meaning and Definition of Greek
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