The word english in greek

The Greek language has contributed to the English lexicon in five main ways:

• vernacular borrowings, transmitted orally through Vulgar Latin directly into Old English, e.g., ‘butter’ (butere, from Latin butyrum < βούτυρον), or through French, e.g., ‘ochre’;
• learned borrowings from classical Greek texts, often via Latin, e.g., ‘physics’ (< Latin physica < τὰ φυσικά);
• a few borrowings transmitted through other languages, notably Arabic scientific and philosophical writing, e.g., ‘alchemy’ (< χημεία);
• direct borrowings from Modern Greek, e.g., ‘ouzo’ (ούζο);
• neologisms (coinages) in post-classical Latin or modern languages using classical Greek roots, e.g., ‘telephone’ (< τῆλε + φωνή) or a mixture of Greek and other roots, e.g., ‘television’ (< Greek τῆλε + English vision < Latin visio); these are often shared among the modern European languages, including Modern Greek.

Of these, the neologisms are by far the most numerous.

Indirect and direct borrowings[edit]

Since the living Greek and English languages were not in direct contact until modern times, borrowings were necessarily indirect, coming either through Latin (through texts or through French and other vernaculars), or from Ancient Greek texts, not the living spoken language.^[5][6]

Vernacular borrowings[edit]

Romance languages[edit]

Some Greek words were borrowed into Latin and its descendants, the Romance languages. English often received these words from French. Some have remained very close to the Greek original, e.g., lamp (Latin lampas; Greek λαμπάς). In others, the phonetic and orthographic form has changed considerably. For instance, place was borrowed both by Old English and by French from Latin platea, itself borrowed from πλατεία (ὁδός), ‘broad (street)’; the Italian piazza and Spanish plaza have the same origin, and have been borrowed into English in parallel.

The word olive comes through the Romance from the Latin olīva, which in turn comes from the archaic Greek elaíwā (ἐλαίϝᾱ).^[7] A later Greek word, boútȳron (βούτυρον),^[8] becomes Latin butyrum and eventually English butter. A large group of early borrowings, again transmitted first through Latin, then through various vernaculars, comes from Christian vocabulary:

• chair << καθέδρα (cf. ‘cathedra’);
• bishop << epískopos (ἐπίσκοπος ‘overseer’);
• priest << presbýteros (πρεσβύτερος ‘elder’); and

In some cases, the orthography of these words was later changed to reflect the Greek—and Latin—spelling: e.g., quire was respelled as choir in the 17th century. Sometimes this was done incorrectly: ache is from a Germanic root; the spelling ache reflects Samuel Johnson’s incorrect etymology from ἄχος.^[9]

Other[edit]

Exceptionally, church came into Old English as cirice, circe via a West Germanic language. The Greek form was probably kȳriakḗ [oikía] (κυριακή [οἰκία] ‘lord’s [house]’). In contrast, the Romance languages generally used the Latin words ecclēsia or basilica, both borrowed from Greek.

Learned borrowings[edit]

Many more words were borrowed by scholars writing in Medieval and Renaissance Latin. Some words were borrowed in essentially their original meaning, often transmitted through Classical Latin: topic, type, physics, iambic, eta, necromancy, cosmopolite. A few result from scribal errors: encyclopedia < ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία ‘the circle of learning’ (not a compound in Greek); acne < ἀκνή (erroneous) < ἀκμή ‘high point, acme’. Some kept their Latin form, e.g., podium < πόδιον.

Others were borrowed unchanged as technical terms, but with specific, novel meanings:

• telescope < τηλεσκόπος ‘far-seeing’, refers to an optical instrument for seeing far away rather than a person who can see far into the distance;
• phlogiston < φλογιστόν ‘burnt thing’, is a supposed fire-making potential rather than something which has been burned, or can be burned; and
• bacterium < βακτήριον ‘stick (diminutive)’, is a kind of microorganism rather than a small stick or staff.

Usage in neologisms[edit]

But by far the largest Greek contribution to English vocabulary is the huge number of scientific, medical, and technical neologisms that have been coined by compounding Greek roots and affixes to produce novel words which never existed in the Greek language:

• utopia (1516; οὐ ‘not’ + τόπος ‘place’)^[10]
• zoology (1669; ζῷον + λογία)
• hydrodynamics (1738; ὕδωρ + δυναμικός)
• photography (1834; φῶς + γραφικός)
• oocyte (1895; ᾠόν + κύτος)
• helicobacter (1989; ἕλιξ + βακτήριον)

So it is really the combining forms of Greek roots and affixes that are borrowed, not the words. Neologisms using these elements are coined in all the European languages, and spread to the others freely—including to Modern Greek, where they are considered to be reborrowings. Traditionally, these coinages were constructed using only Greek morphemes, e.g., metamathematics, but increasingly, Greek, Latin, and other morphemes are combined. These hybrid words were formerly considered to be ‘barbarisms’, such as:

• television (τῆλε + Latin vision);
• metalinguistic (μετά + Latin lingua + -ιστής + -ικος); and
• garbology (English garbage + -ολογία).

Some derivations are idiosyncratic, not following Greek compounding patterns, for example:^[11]

• gas (< χάος) is irregular both in formation and in spelling;
• hadron < ἁδρός with the suffix -on, itself abstracted from Greek anion (ἀνιόν);
• henotheism < ἑνό(ς) ‘one’ + θεός ‘god’, though heno- is not used as a prefix in Greek;
• taxonomy < τάξις ‘order’ + -nomy (-νομία ‘study of’), where the «more etymological form» is taxinomy,^[1][12] as found in ταξίαρχος, ‘taxiarch’, and the neologism taxidermy. Modern Greek uses ταξινομία in its reborrowing.^[13]
• psychedelic < ψυχή ‘psyche’ + δηλοῦν ‘make manifest, reveal’; the regular formation would be psychodelotic;
• telegram; the regular formation would have been telegrapheme;^[14]
• hecto-, kilo-, myria-, etymologically hecato-, chilio-, myrio-;^[15]
• heuristic, regular formation heuretic;
• chrysalis, regular spelling chrysallis;
• ptomaine, regular formation ptomatine;
• kerosene, hydrant, symbiont.

Many combining forms have specific technical meanings in neologisms, not predictable from the Greek sense:

• -cyte or cyto- < κύτος ‘container’, means biological cells, not arbitrary containers.
• -oma < -ωμα, a generic morpheme forming deverbal nouns, such as diploma (‘a folded thing’) and glaucoma (‘greyness’), comes to have the very narrow meaning of ‘tumor’ or ‘swelling’, on the model of words like carcinoma < καρκίνωμα. For example, melanoma does not come from μελάνωμα ‘blackness’, but rather from the modern combining forms melano- (‘dark’ [in biology]) + -oma (‘tumor’).
• -itis < -ῖτις, a generic adjectival suffix; in medicine used to mean a disease characterized by inflammation: appendicitis, conjunctivitis, …, and now facetiously generalized to mean «feverish excitement».^[16]
• -osis < -ωσις, originally a state, condition, or process; in medicine, used for a disease.^[16]

In standard chemical nomenclature, the numerical prefixes are «only loosely based on the corresponding Greek words», e.g. octaconta- is used for 80 instead of the Greek ogdoeconta- ’80’. There are also «mixtures of Greek and Latin roots», e.g., nonaconta-, for 90, is a blend of the Latin nona- for 9 and the Greek -conta- found in words such as ἐνενήκοντα enenekonta ’90’.^[17] The Greek form is, however, used in the names of polygons in mathematics, though the names of polyhedra are more idiosyncratic.

Many Greek affixes such as anti- and -ic have become productive in English, combining with arbitrary English words: antichoice, Fascistic.

Some words in English have been reanalyzed as a base plus suffix, leading to suffixes based on Greek words, but which are not suffixes in Greek (cf. libfix). Their meaning relates to the full word they were shortened from, not the Greek meaning:

• -athon or -a-thon (from the portmanteau word walkathon, from walk + (mar)athon).
• -ase, used in chemistry for enzymes, is abstracted from diastase, where —ασις is not a morpheme at all in Greek.
• -on for elementary particles, from electron: lepton, neutron, phonon, …
• -nomics refers specifically to economics: Reaganomics.

Through other languages[edit]

Some Greek words were borrowed through Arabic and then Romance. Many are learned:

• alchemy (al- + χημεία or χημία)
  • chemist is a back-formation from alchemist
• elixir (al- + ξήριον)
• alembic (al- + ἄμβιξ)

Others are popular:

• bottarga (ᾠοτάριχον)
• tajine (τάγηνον)
• carat (κεράτιον)
• talisman (τέλεσμα)
• possibly quintal (κεντηνάριον < Latin centenarium (pondus)).

A few words took other routes:^[18]

• seine (a kind of fishing net) comes from a West Germanic form *sagīna, from Latin sagēna, from σαγήνη.
• effendi comes from Turkish, borrowed from Medieval Greek αυθέντης (/afˈθendis/, ‘lord’).
• hora (the dance) comes from Romanian and Modern Hebrew, borrowed from χορός ‘dance’.

Vernacular or learned doublets[edit]

Some Greek words have given rise to etymological doublets, being borrowed both through a later learned, direct route, and earlier through an organic, indirect route:^[19][20]

Other doublets come from differentiation in the borrowing languages:

From modern Greek[edit]

Finally, with the growth of tourism and emigration, some words reflecting modern Greek culture have been borrowed into English—many of them originally borrowings into Greek themselves:

Greek as an intermediary[edit]

Many words from the Hebrew Bible were transmitted to the western languages through the Greek of the Septuagint, often without morphological regularization:

• rabbi (ραββί)
• seraphim (σεραφείμ, σεραφίμ)
• paradise (παράδεισος < Hebrew < Persian)
• pharaoh (Φαραώ < Hebrew < Egyptian)

Written form of Greek words in English[edit]

Many Greek words, especially those borrowed through the literary tradition, are recognizable as such from their spelling. Latin had standard orthographies for Greek borrowings, including, but not limited to:

• Greek υ was written as ‘y’
• η as ‘e’
• χ as ‘ch’
• φ as ‘ph’
• κ as ‘c’
• rough breathings as ‘h’
• both ι and ει as ‘i’

These conventions, which originally reflected pronunciation, have carried over into English and other languages with historical orthography, like French.^[22] They make it possible to recognize words of Greek origin, and give hints as to their pronunciation and inflection.

The romanization of some digraphs is rendered in various ways in English. The diphthongs αι and οι may be spelled in three different ways in English:

1. the Latinate digraphs ae and oe;
2. the ligatures æ and œ; and
3. the simple letter e.

The ligatures have largely fallen out of use worldwide; the digraphs are uncommon in American usage, but remain common in British usage. The spelling depends mostly on the variety of English, not on the particular word. Examples include: encyclopaedia / encyclopædia / encyclopedia; haemoglobin / hæmoglobin / hemoglobin; and oedema / œdema / edema. Some words are almost always written with the digraph or ligature: amoeba / amœba, rarely ameba; Oedipus / Œdipus, rarely Edipus; others are almost always written with the single letter: sphære and hæresie were obsolete by 1700; phænomenon by 1800; phænotype and phænol by 1930. The verbal ending -ίζω is spelled -ize in American English, and -ise or -ize in British English.

Since the 19th century, a few learned words were introduced using a direct transliteration of Ancient Greek and including the Greek endings, rather than the traditional Latin-based spelling: nous (νοῦς), koine (κοινή), hoi polloi (οἱ πολλοί), kudos (κύδος), moron (μωρόν), kubernetes (κυβερνήτης). For this reason, the Ancient Greek digraph ει is rendered differently in different words—as i, following the standard Latin form: idol < εἴδωλον; or as ei, transliterating the Greek directly: eidetic (< εἰδητικός), deixis, seismic. Most plurals of words ending in -is are -es (pronounced [iːz]), using the regular Latin plural rather than the Greek -εις: crises, analyses, bases, with only a few didactic words having English plurals in -eis: poleis, necropoleis, and acropoleis (though acropolises is by far the most common English plural).

Most learned borrowings and coinages follow the Latin system, but there are some irregularities:

• eureka (cf. heuristic);
• kaleidoscope (the regular spelling would be calidoscope^[6])
• kinetic (cf. cinematography);
• krypton (cf. cryptic);
• acolyte (< ἀκόλουθος; acoluth would be the etymological spelling, but acolythus, acolotus, acolithus are all found in Latin);^[23]
• stoichiometry (< στοιχεῖον; regular spelling would be st(o)echio-).
• aneurysm was formerly often spelled aneurism on the assumption that it uses the usual -ism ending.

Some words whose spelling in French and Middle English did not reflect their Greco-Latin origins were refashioned with etymological spellings in the 16th and 17th centuries: caracter became character and quire became choir.

In some cases, a word’s spelling clearly shows its Greek origin:

• If it includes ph pronounced as /f/ or y between consonants, it is very likely Greek, with some exceptions, such as nephew, cipher, triumph.^[24]
• If it includes rrh, phth, or chth; or starts with hy-, ps-, pn-, or chr-; or the rarer pt-, ct-, chth-, rh-, x-, sth-, mn-, tm-, gn- or bd-, then it is Greek, with some exceptions: gnat, gnaw, gneiss.

Other exceptions include:

• ptarmigan is from a Gaelic word, the p having been added by false etymology;
• style is probably written with a ‘y’ because the Greek word στῦλος ‘column’ (as in peristyle, ‘surrounded by columns’) and the Latin word stilus, ‘stake, pointed instrument’, were confused.
• trophy, though ultimately of Greek origin, did not have a φ but a π in its Greek form, τρόπαιον.

Pronunciation[edit]

In clusters such as ps-, pn-, and gn- which are not allowed by English phonotactics, the usual English pronunciation drops the first consonant (e.g., psychology) at the start of a word; compare gnostic [nɒstɪk] and agnostic [ægnɒstɪk]; there are a few exceptions: tmesis [t(ə)miːsɪs].

Initial x- is pronounced z. Ch is pronounced like k rather than as in «church»: e.g., character, chaos. The consecutive vowel letters ‘ea’ are generally pronounced separately rather than forming a single vowel sound when transcribing a Greek εα, which was not a digraph, but simply a sequence of two vowels with hiatus, as in genealogy or pancreas (cf., however, ocean, ωκεανός); zeal (earlier zele) comes irregularly from the η in ζήλος.

Some sound sequences in English are only found in borrowings from Greek, notably initial sequences of two fricatives, as in sphere.^[25] Most initial /z/ sounds are found in Greek borrowings.^[25]

The stress on borrowings via Latin which keep their Latin form generally follows the traditional English pronunciation of Latin, which depends on the syllable structure in Latin, not in Greek. For example, in Greek, both ὑπόθεσις (hypothesis) and ἐξήγησις (exegesis) are accented on the antepenult, and indeed the penult has a long vowel in exegesis; but because the penult of Latin exegēsis is heavy by Latin rules, the accent falls on the penult in Latin and therefore in English.

Inflectional endings and plurals[edit]

Though many English words derived from Greek through the literary route drop the inflectional endings (tripod, zoology, pentagon) or use Latin endings (papyrus, mausoleum), some preserve the Greek endings:

• -ον: phenomenon, criterion, neuron, lexicon;
• —∅: plasma, drama, dilemma, trauma (-ma is derivational, not inflectional);
• -ος: chaos, ethos, asbestos, pathos, cosmos;
• -ς: climax (ξ x = k + s), helix, larynx, eros, pancreas, atlas;
• -η: catastrophe, agape, psyche;
• -ις: analysis, basis, crisis, emphasis;
• -ης: diabetes, herpes, isosceles.

In cases like scene, zone, fame, though the Greek words ended in -η, the silent English e is not derived from it.

In the case of Greek endings, the plurals sometimes follow the Greek rules: phenomenon, phenomena; tetrahedron, tetrahedra; crisis, crises; hypothesis, hypotheses; polis, poleis; stigma, stigmata; topos, topoi; cyclops, cyclopes; but often do not: colon, colons not *cola (except for the very rare technical term of rhetoric); pentathlon, pentathlons not *pentathla; demon, demons not *demones; climaxes, not *climaces.

Usage is mixed in some cases: schema, schemas or schemata; lexicon, lexicons or lexica; helix, helixes or helices; sphinx, sphinges or sphinxes; clitoris, clitorises or clitorides. And there are misleading cases: pentagon comes from Greek pentagonon, so its plural cannot be *pentaga; it is pentagons—the Greek form would be *pentagona (cf. Plurals from Latin and Greek).

Verbs[edit]

A few dozen English verbs are derived from the corresponding Greek verbs; examples are baptize, blame and blaspheme, stigmatize, ostracize, and cauterize. In addition, the Greek verbal suffix -ize is productive in Latin, the Romance languages, and English: words like metabolize, though composed of a Greek root and a Greek suffix, are modern compounds. A few of these also existed in Ancient Greek, such as crystallize, characterize, and democratize, but were probably coined independently in modern languages. This is particularly clear in cases like allegorize and synergize, where the Greek verbs ἀλληγορεῖν and συνεργεῖν do not end in -ize at all. Some English verbs with ultimate Greek etymologies, like pause and cycle, were formed as denominal verbs in English, even though there are corresponding Greek verbs, παῦειν/παυσ- and κυκλεῖν.

Borrowings and cognates[edit]

Greek and English share many Indo-European cognates. In some cases, the cognates can be confused with borrowings. For example, the English mouse is cognate with Greek μῦς /mys/ and Latin mūs, all from an Indo-European word *mūs; they are not borrowings. Similarly, acre is cognate to Latin ager and Greek αγρός, but not a borrowing; the prefix agro- is a borrowing from Greek, and the prefix agri- a borrowing from Latin.

Phrases[edit]

Many Latin phrases are used verbatim in English texts—et cetera (etc.), ad nauseam, modus operandi (M.O.), ad hoc, in flagrante delicto, mea culpa, and so on—but this is rarer for Greek phrases or expressions:

• hoi polloi ‘the many’
• eureka ‘I have found [it]’
• kalos kagathos ‘beautiful and virtuous’
• hapax legomenon ‘once said’
• kyrie eleison ‘Lord, have mercy’

Calques and translations[edit]

Greek technical terminology was often calqued in Latin rather than borrowed,^[26][27] and then borrowed from Latin into English. Examples include:^[26]

• (grammatical) case, from casus (‘an event’, something that has fallen’), a semantic calque of Greek πτώσις (‘a fall’);
• nominative, from nōminātīvus, a translation of Greek ὀνομαστική;
• adverb, a morphological calque of Greek ἐπίρρημα as ad- + verbum;
• magnanimous, from Greek μεγάθυμος (lit. ‘great spirit’);
• essence, from essentia, which was constructed from the notional present participle *essens, imitating Greek οὐσία.^[28]
• Substance, from substantia, a calque of Greek υπόστασις (cf. hypostasis);^[29]
• Cicero coined moral on analogy with Greek ηθικός.^[30]
• Recant is modeled on παλινῳδεῖν.^[31]

Greek phrases were also calqued in Latin, then borrowed or translated into English:

• English commonplace is a calque of locus communis, itself a calque of Greek κοινός τόπος.
• deus ex machina ‘god out of the machine’ was calqued from the Greek apò mēkhanês theós (ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός).
• materia medica is a short form of Dioscorides‘ De Materia Medica, from Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς.
• quod erat demonstrandum (Q.E.D.) is a calque of ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι.
• subject matter is a calque of subiecta māteria, itself a calque of Aristotle’s phrase «ἡ ὑποκειμένη ὕλη.»
• wisdom tooth came to English from dentes sapientiae, from Arabic aḍrāsu ‘lḥikmi, from σωϕρονιστῆρες, used by Hippocrates.
• political animal is from πολιτικὸν ζῷον (in Aristotle’s Politics).
• quintessence is post-classical quinta essentia, from Greek πέμπτη οὐσία.

The Greek word εὐαγγέλιον has come into English both in borrowed forms like evangelical and the form gospel, an English calque (Old English gód spel ‘good tidings’) of bona adnuntiatio, itself a calque of the Greek.

Statistics[edit]

The contribution of Greek to the English vocabulary can be quantified in two ways, type and token frequencies: type frequency is the proportion of distinct words; token frequency is the proportion of words in actual texts.

Since most words of Greek origin are specialized technical and scientific coinages, the type frequency is considerably higher than the token frequency. And the type frequency in a large word list will be larger than that in a small word list. In a typical English dictionary of 80,000 words, which corresponds very roughly to the vocabulary of an educated English speaker, about 5% of the words are borrowed from Greek.^[32]

Most common[edit]

Of the 500 most common words in English, 18 (3.6%) are of Greek origin: place (rank 115), problem (121), school (147), system (180), program (241), idea (252), story (307), base (328), center (335), period (383), history (386), type (390), music (393), political (395), policy (400), paper (426), phone (480), economic (494).^[33]

See also[edit]

• List of Greek and Latin roots in English
• List of Greek morphemes used in English
• List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names
• Transliteration of Greek into English
• Classical compound
• Hybrid word
• Latin influence in English

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

Sources[edit]

• Baugh, Albert C., Thomas Cable. 2002. A History of the English Language, 5th edition. ISBN 0415280990
• Gaidatzi, Theopoula. July 1985. «Greek loanwords in English» (M.A. thesis). University of Leeds
• Konstantinidis, Aristidis. 2006. Η Οικουμενική Διάσταση της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας [The Universal Reach of the Greek Language]. Athens: self-published. ISBN 960-90338-2-2.
• Krill, Richard M. 1990. Greek and Latin in English Today. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. ISBN 0-86516-241-7.
• March, F. A. 1893. «The Influence of the Greeks on the English Language.» The Chautauquan 16(6):660–66.
• —— 1893. «Greek in the English of Modern Science.» The Chautauquan 17(1):20–23.
• Scheler, Manfred. 1977. Der englische Wortschatz [English vocabulary]. Berlin: Schmidt.
• Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.)

External links[edit]

• Mathematical Words: Origins and Sources (John Aldrich, University of Southampton)

Greek is one of the most ancient languages and there are words to describe almost anything. However, there are English words used in everyday life that cannot be translated. In some cases they can be translated but the Greek version is rarely used. These words can be related to:

Places

το σούπερ μάρκετ (to super market): the Greek word is υπεραγορά (eeperagora) but it is not used in everyday life.

E.g. Θα πάω στο σούπερ μάρκετ να αγοράσω μερικά πράγματα. (Tha pao sto super market na agoraso merika pragmata). I’ll go to the super market to buy some things.

το βεσε (to vesse): w.c. The word w.c. follows the French pronunciation.

E.g. Στο σπίτι τους έχουν ένα βεσε και ένα μπάνιο. (Sto spiti tous ehoun ena vesse kai ena banio).

At their house they have a w.c. and a bathroom.

το πάρκινγκ (to parking): The English word parking is used in Greek to describe the parking lot.

E.g. Έξω από το κατάστημα υπάρχει ένα μεγάλο πάρκινγκ. (Ekso apo to katastima iparhei ena megalo parking). Outside the store there’s a big parking lot.

το μπαρ (to bar): a place where alcoholic beverages are served.

E.g. Δεν μου αρέσει αυτό το μπαρ. Η μουσική είναι χάλια. (Den mou aresee afto to bar. Ee mousiki eenai halia). I don’t like this bar. The music is awful.

τo κλαμπ (to club): nightclub

Χθες ήμουν στο κλαμπ μέχρι τις έξι το πρωί. (Hthes eemoun sto club mehri tis eksi to proee). Yesterday I was at the club until six o’ clock in the morning.

We also use the expression “κάνω κλάμπινγκ” (kano clubbing, to go clubbing).

Το άλλο Σάββατο θα πάμε στη Μύκονο για κλάμπινγκ. (To allo Savato tha pame sti Mikono gia clubbing). Next Saturday we’ll go clubbing to Mykonos.

Actions

κάνω ζάπινγκ (kano zapping): to switch channels using a remote control.

E.g.“Έχει τίποτα καλό η τηλεόραση;” “Δεν ξέρω. Κάνε ζάπινγκ.” (Ehee tipota kalo ee tileorasi? Den ksero. Kane zapping). “Is there anything good on TV?” “I don’t know. Do dome zapping” (lit.)

κάνω κάμπινγκ / πηγαίνω για κάμπινγκ (kano camping, pigaino gia camping): to go camping.

E.g. Δεν μένουν ποτέ στο ξενοδοχείο. Κάνουν κάμπινγκ. (Den menoun pote sto ksenodoheio. Kanoun camping) They never stay at the hotel. They go camping.

The word camping (κάμπινγκ) is also used as a noun.

E.g. Ο Τάσος και η Μαίρη μένουν στο κάμπινγκ. (O Tasos kai ee Mary menoun sto camping). Tasos and Mary are staying at the camping.

The Greek word for camping is κατασκήνωση (kataskeenosee) but it refers to a camping for children or teenagers where they spend summer holidays without the supervision of their parents.

Kitchen

το κοκτέιλ (cocktail). Usually it contains alcohol. Otherwise, it is called κοκτέιλ χωρίς αλκοόλ (coctail horis alcool), a cocktail with no alcohol.

E.g. Θα πάρω ένα κοκτέιλ. Ένα ντάκιρι φράουλα. (Tha paro ena coctail. Ena daiquiri fraoula)

I’ll have a cocktail. A strawberry daiquiri.

το κέιτερινγκ (catering): a company that provides food or the food provided.

E.g. Θέλετε να κάνουμε ένα διάλειμμα για φαγητό; Ήρθε το κέιτερινγκ. (Thelete na kanoume ena dialeema gia fagito? Irthe to catering). Would you like to have a lunch break? The catering is here.

το μίξερ: mixer

E.g. Μπορώ να πάρω το μίξερ σου; Θέλω να φτιάξω μια μηλόπιτα. (Boro na paro to mixer sou? Thelo na ftiaxo mia milopita). Can I take your mixer? I want to make an apple pie.

το σέικερ: shaker

E.g. Πώς θα φτιάξεις φραπέ χωρίς σέικερ; (Pos tha ftiaksees frape horis shaker). How are you going to make a frappe with no shaker?

Other nouns

το χόμπι: hobby

E.g.Τα χόμπι της είναι η ζωγραφική και η κηπουρική. (Ta hobby tis eenai ee zografiki kai ee kipouriki). Her hobbies are painting and gardening.

το ούφο (to oofo): UFO. In slang it means stupid and absent-minded.

E.g. H Ρένα λέει ότι είδε ένα ούφο στον κήπο της. (Ee Rena leei oti eede ena ufo ston kipo tis). Rena says she saw a UFO in her garden.

Ο αδερφός μου είναι τελείως ούφο. Ξέχασε τα κλειδιά του αυτοκινήτου μέσα στο αυτοκίνητο. (O aderfos mou einai teleios ufo. Ksehase ta kleidia tou aftokinitou mesa sto aftokinito). My brother is a complete jerk. He forgot the car keys inside the car.

Did you know that learning Greek will involve coming across many familiar English words?

Well, since Greece is a member of the European Union and one of the top tourist destinations in the Mediterranean, it’s not surprising that the majority of Greeks speak fluent English. In addition, English lessons are integrated into the educational curriculum, so Greek children familiarize themselves with the language from a very young age. 

Within this context, there are many English words in Greek that are used in everyday communication. In some cases (such as when technology-related terminology is used), these borrowed English words are even preferred over their Greek equivalents. 

As technology has continued to thrive over the past few decades, a new, informal version of written—or better said, typed—Greek has emerged, widely known as Greeklish. As you might already know, Greek is not a Romance language, so being able to type in Greek using an English keyboard facilitated digital communication.

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the different versions of Greeklish as well as some common English words used in the Greek language. In addition, we’ll introduce you to plenty of English words which are derived from Greek.

→ Before you start, you may also enjoy our article on 10 Unique and Untranslatable Greek Words!

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Greeklish
2. Greeklish Examples
3. Loanwords vs. Greeklish
4. English Words Derived From Greek
5. Conclusion

1. Introduction to Greeklish

‘Greeklish’ is a portmanteau word that combines the words Greek and English. This term refers to the tendency of native speakers to type Greek with Latin characters. 

The first use of Greeklish is believed to have been by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service (Ε.Μ.Υ.), during times when Greek characters were not fully supported in systems or in the digital world. However, there is no official record as to when exactly Greeklish made its first appearance. 

One thing is sure, though: Greeklish has flourished among youngsters, along with the development of technology. For example, one of the first uses of Greeklish was in SMS messages, mainly due to the character restrictions. Typing in Greek would require more characters for certain vowel and consonant sounds, such as: αι > e and ντ > d. Later, the use of Greeklish expanded to all digital communications, where passing on a message quickly was more important than spelling and taking the time to accentuate words.

We could say that there are two distinctive styles of Greeklish: 

• Phonetic: Writing the words with Latin characters, according to the way they sound. For example, μπαμπάς > babas.
• Spelling-based: Writing the words with Latin characters, taking into account the Greek spelling and transliterating them on a letter-by-letter basis. For example, μπαμπάς > mpampas.

However, most people who use Greeklish have a mixed style, with some words being typed according to their spelling and other words being typed according to their sound. Sometimes, even numbers are used. For example, θάλασσα > 8alassa. It’s a matter of personal preference, really.

Despite these redeeming features of Greeklish, it is perceived as a very informal method of communication and has already started to fade out significantly. This decline in popularity is largely due to various Greek forums that prohibited typing in Greeklish in an attempt to preserve the Greek language and provide quality content for their viewers. Many people supported this idea in their personal lives and raised awareness of how detrimental Greeklish could be concerning the spelling skills of young students and people in general. 

With the fading of SMS messages and the evolution of technology and communication methods, there is no longer the need to type fewer characters. And with the wide support of Greek characters across systems, there is no real excuse for choosing Latin characters over Greek ones.

→ Want to know more about Greek communication in modern times? See our vocabulary lists of the Most Common Texting Slang and the Top 20 Words You’ll Need for the Internet.

2. Greeklish Examples

Here are a few examples of Greeklish to show you the different styles of using this informal communication method. 

• Greek: Γεια σου, τι κάνεις;
• Phonetic Greeklish: Ya su, ti kanis?
• Spelling-based Greeklish: Geia sou, ti kaneis?
• Mixed version: Gia su, t knc? 
• Translation in English: Hello, how are you doing?

• Greek: Είμαι καλά, εσύ;
• Phonetic Greeklish: Ime kala, esi?
• Spelling-based Greeklish: Eimai kala, esy?
• Mixed version: Ime kl, esi? 
• Translation in English: I am well, you?

• Greek: Καλά είμαι κι εγώ. Θέλεις να πάμε αύριο για έναν καφέ?
• Phonetic Greeklish: Kala ime ki ego. Thelis na pame avrio ya enan kafe?
• Spelling-based Greeklish: Kala eimai ki egw. Theleis na pame aurio gia enan kafe?
• Mixed version: Kl ime ki ego. Thelis n pame avrio gia kafe? 
• Translation in English: I am fine, as well. Would you like to go for a coffee tomorrow?

• Greek: Γιατί όχι. Στις επτά είναι καλά;
• Phonetic Greeklish: Yati ohi. Stis epta ine kala?
• Spelling-based Greeklish: Giati oxi. Stis epta einai kala?
• Mixed version: Gt ohi. Stis epta ine kl? 
• Translation in English: Why not. Does seven o’clock work for you?

• Greek: Μια χαρά! Τα λέμε αύριο.
• Phonetic Greeklish: Mia hara! Ta leme avrio.
• Spelling-based Greeklish: Mia xara! Ta leme aurio.
• Mixed version: Mia hara. Tlm avrio. 
• Translation in English: Excellent! See you tomorrow.

Learn how to offer an invitation in Greek, and how to reject one politely!

3. Loanwords vs. Greeklish

As we said earlier, Greeklish refers to typing Greek using Latin characters. Loanwords, on the other hand, are foreign words which have been integrated into the Greek language to such an extent that they’re written with Greek letters according to how they sound.

Here is a quick list of common English words used in Greek:

Loanword	English Equivalent
κέικ	cake
κέτσαπ	ketchup
μπάρμπεκιου	barbeque
μπέικον	bacon
σάντουιτς	sandwich
τοστ	toast
μπλέντερ	blender
πόστερ	poster
σέικερ	shaker
μπικίνι	bikini
πουλόβερ	pullover
σορτς	shorts
ινστιτούτο	institute
μέικαπ	makeup
σουπερμάρκετ	supermarket
τεστ	test
καγκουρό	kangaroo
γκολ	goal
άουτ	out
οφσάιντ	offside
ματς	match
μάρκετινγκ	marketing
εξπρές	express
λάπτοπ	laptop
κομπιούτερ	computer
ίντερνετ	internet
σάιτ	(web)site
τάμπλετ	tablet
λάιτ	light (low on calories)
μπάσκετ	basket
βόλεϊ	volley
τζιπ	jeep
μιούζικαλ	musical
χιούμορ	humor

At this point, we should note that unlike native Greek nouns, almost all of the ones above do not get inflected. They remain the same in speech regardless of whether they are singular or plural, for example.

Therefore:

Singular: το κέικ – Plural:  τα κέικ

Singular: το λάπτοπ – Plural: τα λάπτοπ

Singular: το μπλέντερ – Plural: τα μπλέντερ

Of course, there are hundreds of loanwords. But referencing all of them would go well beyond the scope of this article. 

Most Greek learners love these words, because they’re easy to remember and are not affected very much by Greek grammar.

4. English Words Derived From Greek

There is another category of words that combine English with Greek: English words derived from the Greek language. As strange as it might seem, this category is vast and includes a wide variety of Greek words and terminologies which have been integrated into the English language. 

Here is a list of some of the most popular English words with Greek roots:

English Word	Original Greek Word
democracy	δημοκρατία (dimokratía)
Europe	Ευρώπη (Evrópi)
dinosaur	δεινόσαυρος (dinósavros)
anonymous	ανώνυμος (anónimos)
marathon	μαραθώνιος (marathónios)
melancholy	μελαγχολία (melanholía)
phobia	φοβία (fovía)
psychology	ψυχολογία (psiholoyía)
panic	πανικός (panikós)
planet	πλανήτης (planítis)
acrobat	ακροβάτης (akrovátis)
apology	απολογία (apoloyía)
comedy	κωμωδία (komodía)
drama	δράμα (dráma)
emphasis	έμφαση (émfasi)
harmony	αρμονία (armonía)
economy	οικονομία (ikonomía)
sarcasm	σαρκασμός (sarkasmós)
hierarchy	ιεραρχία (ierarhía)
character	χαρακτήρας (haraktíras)
telephone	τηλέφωνο (tiléfono)
program	πρόγραμμα (prógrama)
gastronomy	γαστρονομία (gastronomía)
dialogue	διάλογος (diálogos)
epilogue	επίλογος (epílogos)
oenology	οινολογία (inoloyía)
homophobia	ομοφοβία (omofovía)
etymology	ετυμολογία (etimoloyía)
asteroid	αστεροειδής (asteroidís)
planetarium	πλανητάριο (planitário)
utopia	ουτοπία (utopía)
photography	φωτογραφία (fotografía)
zoology	ζωολογία (zooloyía)
biology	βιολογία (violoyía)
astronomy	αστρονομία (astronomía)
telescope	τηλεσκόπιο (tileskópio)
anarchy	αναρχία (anarhía)
architecture	αρχιτεκτονική (arhitektonikí)
technology	τεχνολογία (tehnoloyía)

In fact, there are so many words of Greek origin in the English language that it’s possible to write large texts—or even entire speeches—in English using almost entirely words of Greek origin. A good example of this is the speech of Mr. Xenophon Zolotas in 1957, who was then the director of the Bank of Greece.

Curious to learn more? You can read an article about this historical speech online.

Conclusion

If you’ve reached this point, we’re sure that you’re already amazed by the influence these two languages have had on each other. The most surprising fact is that there are so many Greek words in the English language that, as you can see now, they could be used to create an entire speech!

Many learners of Greek are pleased to know that there are so many familiar words in the Greek language. This definitely makes things easier for novice learners, who tend to get disappointed by the complexity of Greek grammar and spelling. 

On the other hand, Greeklish might seem a viable solution for those who just want to chat casually in Greek. But remember that this peculiar tendency is clearly fading out as the years pass by. Therefore, we wouldn’t recommend using Greeklish (except with really close friends), as it might give a bad impression and, in some cases, even be considered disrespectful. 

At GreekPod101.com, we aim to provide you with everything you need to learn the Greek language in a fun and interesting way. Stay tuned for more articles like this one, word lists, grammar tips, and even YouTube videos, which are waiting for you to discover them!

You can also upgrade to Premium PLUS and take advantage of our MyTeacher program to learn Greek with your own personal teacher, who will answer any questions you might have!

In the meantime, can you think of any other English words that derive from Greek? Let us know in the comments section!

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After French, Latin and Viking (and Old English of course, but that is English), the Greek language has contributed more words to modern English than any other – perhaps 5%.

Many Greek words sprang from Greek mythology and history. Knowing those subjects was evidence that a person was educated, so dropping a reference to Greek literature was encouraged even into the 20th century. From Greek mythology, we get words such as atlas, chaos, chronological, erotic, herculean, hypnotic, muse, nectar, promethean, and even cloth.

But most Greek-origin words in English did not come straight from ancient Greek. Many are modern, not ancient, combinations of Greek root words. For example, you probably know the telephone was not used by the ancient Greeks. But the word itself is all Greek, made up of the Greek words for “distant” and “sound.” Besides tele and phon, common Greek roots include anti, arch, auto, bio, centro, chromo, cyclo, demo, dys, eu, graph, hydro, hypo, hyper, logo, macro, mega, meta, micro, mono, paleo, para, philo, photo, poly, pro, pseudo, psycho, pyro, techno, thermo and zoo. Among others.

Comparing the original and the modern meanings of Greek words that became English words sometimes shows not only how much language has changed, but how much culture has changed.

1. idiot
   Someone of very low intelligence. For the ancient Greeks, an idiot was a private citizen, a person not involved in civil government or politics. Related: idiosyncracy, idiom, and other individualistic words.
2. metropolis
   The Greek roots of this word are “mother” and “city.” Socrates, convicted in court of corrupting the youth with his philosophy, was given a choice between drinking poison or exile from his mother city of Athens. He chose poison because he wasn’t an idiot, in the ancient sense. If you chose exile, you might be an idiot in the ancient sense, but you would be a live idiot.
3. acrobat
   This circus performer who demonstrates feats of physical agility by climbing to the very top of the rope gets his name from the Greek words “high” and “walk,” with the sense of “rope dancer” and “tip-toe.”
4. bacterium
   From a Greek word that means “stick” because under a microscope (another Greek word), some bacteria look like sticks.
5. cemetery
   The Greek word koimeterion meant “sleeping place, dormitory.” Early Christian writers adopted the word for “burial ground,” and that’s why college students stay in the dormitory and not in the cemetery.
6. dinosaur
   You may have heard this one before. Our word for these ancient reptiles is a modern (1841) combination of the Greek words for “terrible” and “lizard.
7. hippopotamus
   The ancient Greeks called this large, moist African animal a hippopótamos, from the words for “horse” and “river.” In other words, river horse.
8. rhinoceros
   Continuing our African theme, this large, dry African animal is named after the Greek words for “nose” and “horn.” Horns usually don’t grow on noses.
9. history
   The Greek word historía meant “inquiry, record, narrative.”
10. dialogue
    A monologue has one speaker, but a dialogue doesn’t necessarily have two speakers (that would be a “di-logue,” but there’s no such word). Dialogue comes from Greek words that mean “across-talk,” and more than two people can do that if they take turns.
11. economy
    The Greek word for “household administration” has been expanded to mean the management of money, goods, and services for an entire community or nation. But “economical” still refers to personal thrift.
12. metaphor
    In ancient times, this word meant “transfer” or “carrying over.” When my grandfather called my grandmother a peach, metaphorically speaking, he used a figure of speech that transferred the sweetness of the fruit to his sweet wife.
13. planet
    The ancient Greeks get blamed for everything wrong with astronomy before the Renaissance, but they were astute enough to notice that while most stars stood still, some wandered from year to year. The word planet comes from the Greek word for “wandering.”
14. schizophrenia
    People with this mental disorder have been described as having a “split personality,” and the name comes from Greek words for “split” and “mind.” Symptoms may include hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech.
15. technology
    This word was not limited to industry or science until the mid-19th century, during the Industrial Revolution. Originally it referred to “technique” (same Greek root) or the systematic study of an art or craft – the art of grammar, at first, and later the fine arts.
16. grammatical
    Speaking of grammar, the Ancient Greek word grammatike meant “skilled in writing.” Now it means “correct in writing.”
17. syntax
    A combination of Ancient Greek words that mean “together” and “arrangement.” Syntax is how words are arranged together.
18. sarcasm
    Though it was used to describe bitter sneering, the Greek word sarkazein literally meant “to cut off flesh,” which you might feel has happened to you when subjected to cutting sarcasm or critical humor.
19. sycophant
    Not a word that I’ve ever used, but you might like it. It means “servile, self-seeking flatterer.” In ancient Greek, it meant “one who shows the fig.” That referred to an insulting hand gesture that respectable Greek politicians wouldn’t use against their opponents, but whose shameless followers could be encouraged to do so.
20. telescope
    Another all-Greek word that wasn’t invented by the Greeks, but perhaps by the Dutch around 1600. Its roots mean “far-seeing” and Galileo Galilei was one of the first astronomers to use a telescope to see faraway things.

As you can see, Greek is deeply woven into modern English. To prove it, in the late 1950s, Greek economist Xenophon Zolotas gave two speeches in English, but using only Greek words, except for articles and prepositions. The results were rather high-sounding, but mostly comprehensible. As you become more familiar with Greek words, English will be easier to understand. And probably, more colorful.

Influence of the Greek(Hellenic) language in today’s word

How many Greek words are in the English language

The Guinness Book of Records ranks the Hellenic language as the richest in the world with 5 million words and 70 million word types!

Hellenic roots are often used to coin new words for other languages, especially in the sciences and medicine.

Mathematics, physics, astronomy, democracy, philosophy, athletics, theatre, rhetoric, baptism, and hundreds of other words are Hellenic(Greek), this is a FACT

Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as a basis for coinages: anthropology, photography, telephony, isomer, biomechanics, cinematography, etc…

In a typical everyday 80,000-word English dictionary, about 5% of the words are directly borrowed from Greek; (for example, “phenomenon” is a Hellenic word and even obeys Hellenic grammar rules as the plural is “phenomena”), and another 25% are borrowed indirectly.

So, about 150,000 words in modern English have direct or indirect origins in the ancient Greek language.

This is because there were many Hellenic words borrowed from Latin originally, which then filtered down into English because English borrowed so many words from Latin (for example, “elaiwa” in Greek evolved into the Latin “oliva”, which in turn became “olive” in English).

So, 30% of English words are…Greek!

Hellenic and Latin are the predominant sources of the international scientific vocabulary, however, the percentage of words borrowed from Greek rises much higher than Latin when considering highly scientific vocabulary (for example, “oxytetracycline” is a medical term that has three Hellenic roots).

And finally, had you ever wondered how the world was going to be if the Greek language never existed?

Most of the ideas in this article are borrowed from this website, so greetings belong to them.

Learn 100 Greek words in 10 minutes!

List of Greek words in English

Only an example of a few words of Greek origin is below with their writing in the modern Greek language and their spelling with Latin characters. Practically unchanged since antiquity.

NOTE: The words on this list are not clickable,  if you click on them simply nothing will happen!

Also, almost all words that start with “PH” are of Greek origin!

We must stop here, these are already very good samples, and is impossible to write down all the 150,000 Greek words used in English! But if you click this Wiktionary link you can discover thousands more Greek words in English than you ever imagined.

So, If you are one of those who say “It’s all Greek to me” it’s time to reconsider it, it will help if you follow a couple of simple tips.

Most important, the Latin sound of “C” is “K” in Greek. For Greeks, the sound of “C” is written and pronounced always as “S”.

Keep in mind that the “TH” sound is written with the letter “Θ” in Greek.

The ancient Greek B originally sounded like what B sounds like in English today, but in modern Greek, it is written with “MΠ” (M+P), and the letter “Β” sounds like “V”.

All ancient Greek words that start with the “H” sound, History, for instance, were written with aspiration in the first letter, this aspirate remained in English but was replaced with the letter ‘H’.

This aspiration is abolished in modern Greek and the sound of “H” is not pronounced.

Anywhere you see an “Ω” or “Ο” both pronounced as “O”. There are some more minor differences, but slowly you will find out that you start to make sense.

Differences in the alphabets are minor, the Latin alphabet, after all, is the natural evolution of the Greek Euboean alphabet which in turn is a transformation of the Phoenician alphabet with the additions of vowels.

Finally, you will see that saying “is all Greek to me” is a non-sense expression, therefore for something completely unknown it’s more appropriate to say “it’s all Chinese to me“.

After all, the so-called Indo-European languages have something in common, the Phoenician alphabet which is the common ancestor for all alphabets in Europe.

They are all Hellenic(Greek)

According to one estimate, more than 150,000 words of English are derived from Greek words…source:www.britishcouncil.org

Now that you have seen how many Greek words you know, You shouldn’t feel stranger when you visit Greece, you are a native Greek-speaking person, you just don’t know it yet! Learn about this.
Learn 100 Greek words in 10 minutes!