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Greek (grēk)
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n.
1.
a. The Indo-European language of the Greeks.
b. Greek language and literature from the middle of the eighth century BC to the end of the third century AD, especially the Attic Greek of the fifth and fourth centuries BC.
2.
a. A native or inhabitant of Greece.
b. A person of Greek ancestry.
3. Informal A member of a fraternity or sorority that has its name composed of Greek letters.
4. Informal Something that is unintelligible: Quantum mechanics is Greek to me.
adj.
Of or relating to Greece or its people, language, or culture.
[Middle English Grek, from Old English Grēcas, the Greeks, from Latin Graecus, Greek, from Greek Graikos, ethnic designation of a Boeotian tribe that settled in Italy.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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