Greek

—Greekdom, n. —Greekish, adj.

/greek/, adj.

1. of or pertaining to Greece, the Greeks, or their language.

2. pertaining to the Greek Orthodox Church.

3. noting or pertaining to the alphabetical script derived from a Semitic form of writing and employing some letters that originally represented consonants for 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.

n.

4. a native or inhabitant of Greece.

5. 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. Abbr.: Gk, Gk.

6. Informal. anything unintelligible, as speech, writing, etc.: This contract is Greek to me.

7. a member of the Greek Church.

8. Hellenic (def. 3).

9. a person who belongs to a Greek-letter fraternity or sorority.

10. Archaic. a cheater, esp. one who cheats at cards: usually considered offensive.

[bef. 900; ME; OE Grecas (pl.) < L Graeci the Greeks (nom. pl. of Graecus) < Gk Graikoí, pl. of Graikós Greek]

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(as used in expressions)

Greek alphabet

Greek Civil War

Greek fire

Greek Independence War of

Greek language

Greek law

Greek mythology

Greek Orthodox Church

Greek pottery

Greek religion

Greek Revival

Maximus the Greek

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