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Ancient Greek Words

Can you translate these ancient Greek words into English?
All the answers are a single word
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 26, 2023
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First submittedSeptember 13, 2013
Times taken69,401
Average score62.5%
Rating4.81
4:00
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Greek
English
Helios
Sun
Andros
Man
Biblion
Book
Tele
Distant
Derma
Skin
Bios
Life
Greek
English
Theos
God
Tauros
Bull
Chronos
Time
Mikros
Small
Kardia
Heart
Deka
Ten
Greek
English
Dodeka
Twelve
Ichthus
Fish
Ofthalmós
Eye
Pharmakon
Drug
Phileo
Love
Homos
Same
Greek
English
Phobos
Fear
Polis
City
Xenos
Foreign
Gymnos
Naked
Klepto
Steal
Sophia
Knowledge
+13
Level 82
Dec 10, 2013
Learned what Gymnos meant today. Got everything else pretty easily. Maybe you could accept "alien" in place of foreign?
+5
Level 36
Jun 28, 2016
For Xenos, I tried

Others and different... Alien would be good too.

+1
Level 70
Aug 8, 2021
Last one left for me too... figured it out from gymnosperm.
+3
Level 61
Aug 10, 2021
That’s where the words gymnastics, gym, etc. come from, because in the ancient Olympic Games the athletes were competing naked
+1
Level 65
Dec 10, 2013
Phileo means kiss, not love
+11
Level 67
Dec 10, 2013
No, it means love, as in philanthropy--the love of man, or Philadelphia--city of brotherly love, or bibliophile--lover of books... I don't know many people who kiss books on a regular basis. Greek has four different words for love.
+1
Level 70
Aug 28, 2018
Have you read the title?
+5
Level 76
Aug 3, 2018
Sorry mrpappas and serval, but:

Phili (fili) is kiss in modern Greek; and

Phileo means 'love' -- as does 'agape'.

North American Greeks are not proficient in the modern or ancient Greek languages to make these 'assumptions' (corrections), as they only end up confusing people.

I suggest just sticking to the facts -- and if you don't know, you don't even need to actually open a book. Just Google it.

+2
Level 39
May 16, 2014
Bull is written as Tavros, Fish as Ichthis, Same as Idio (idios, idia)
+9
Level 64
Sep 6, 2014
Ironically I didn't know what Sophia meant
+7
Level 70
Jun 27, 2016
Hooray! Someone actually knows what irony is. Seems to be a synonym of coincidence these days.
+10
Level 72
Aug 8, 2021
I thought it was like rain on your wedding day. Or a free ride that you've already paid.
+4
Level 66
Mar 2, 2023
Maybe even some good advice that you just didn't take?
+1
Level 24
Feb 27, 2024
who would have thought?
+1
Level 62
Feb 27, 2024
it figures
+1
Level 70
Nov 26, 2014
this is good if you know your latin roots
+5
Level 71
Mar 25, 2015
Ofthalmós doesn't follow the same romanization scheme as the rest of the words.
+6
Level 61
Apr 17, 2017
Yeah, I was wondering why only that one word has an accent on it. Technically all of them should. In fact, why not just write them as they should actually be spelled using Greek letters? That would have made the quiz much less confusing.
+2
Level 72
Aug 21, 2019
Along with using f as the equivalent of phi , when all the other words with phi in this quiz use ph, the standard romanization for phi.
+2
Level 51
May 1, 2015
How was I able to fill in the blank for ophthalmologist as an eye doctor earlier today and yet didn't figure out that ofthalmos is eye? I'm silly.
+7
Level 44
Dec 2, 2015
Interesting, but a bit strict: recommend to recognize the variations (I put 'distance' for 'Tele' and 'know' for 'Sophia' but weren't accepted).
+1
Level 71
Apr 1, 2021
i put distance as well :(
+1
Level 60
Mar 3, 2024
Not accepting "know" makes sense because it's a different form entirely and it would be annoying to type "knowledge" for it to be cut off.
+1
Level 56
Jun 26, 2016
I don't speak Greek but I think "human" should be accepted for "Andro" and "town" for "Polis".
+4
Level 86
Jun 26, 2016
Human is anthropos, man is andros and woman is gynae.
+4
Level 59
Jun 26, 2016
Please accept wisdom for Sophia
+1
Level 60
Mar 3, 2023
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is considered a fruit. Wisdom is not putting tomato in a fruit salad.
+3
Level 74
Mar 3, 2023
Intelligence is understanding that context determines the operative meaning of the word (e.g. culinary vs botanical).

The right tomatoes in the right fruit salad works very well, fwiw. Search for a recipe. You might be surprised.

+1
Level 22
Jun 26, 2016
Can you please accept 'similar' for 'homos'? Would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance!!!
+1
Level 62
Apr 14, 2022
I recognize this is well after the fact, but, I'm pretty sure similar would be homoi or homoio not homo
+2
Level 45
Jun 26, 2016
i enjoyed this quiz. Did better than I thought I would.
+10
Level 14
Jun 27, 2016
This quiz has a few issues. "Man" is ἀνήρ (aner) in Ancient Greek; ἀνδρός (andros) is its genitive ("man's"). Τῆλε (tele) is correct, but it's an adverb, so "at a distance" may be a clearer translation. There is a word ὁμός (homos), but it's very rare; you should use the much commoner ὅμοιος (homoios; cf. e.g. "homoeopathy") instead. As you write "ichthus", you should also write "gumnos" ("u" corresponds with Greek υ, i.e. upsilon), and as you write "pharmakon", "phobos" etc., you should also write "ophthalmos", i.e. "ph" for φ (phi).

If you want to mark Greek word accents as in "ophthalmós", you should do so in every word, so anér, biblíon, theós, mikrós, gumnós etc.

+3
Level 34
Aug 26, 2016
could you possibly accept Nude or Nudity for Naked? I just couldn't think of naked and all I had was nude lol
+2
Level 56
Sep 8, 2016
I am in total shock that I got them all. Some where complete guesses.
+4
Level 68
Aug 21, 2019
I was pleasantly surprised I got all but two.
+1
Level 70
Aug 4, 2018
Some iamverysmart Greek language grammar nazis in the comments section. Perhaps they have a future as Roman centurions correcting politically subversive graffiti in Jerusalem?
+1
Level 88
Nov 24, 2018
34% for Tele- ? Television, telescope, telephone, telegraph, telegram, teletype. I thought we all learned this in school.
+3
Level 67
Aug 21, 2019
well if distant of remote was accepted, the % would be much higher
+3
Level 65
Dec 17, 2018
pleasantly surprised I got all but "eye" makes sense now, opto- if I only I could ve looked passed the f. it felt familiar though.

The gymnos took a while. First associatio was gymnasium and I remember that originally didnt meant school, but a place where they did sports, (indeed naked, but took a while before that detail came up) so tried exercise, body, sports first, I was starting to think I was on the wrong path completely, but then thought, could it be naked...? And it was ! somehow I really dont feel that gymnos should be the word for naked. Just a completely ungrounded feeling, some words seem to work or fit for a definition even if you dont know the exact meaning ( ok if you dont get what I mean, the last few sentences will look like gibberish haha)

+1
Level 37
Mar 8, 2019
Interesting quiz! - Learned a few things (Sophia).
+13
Level 76
Aug 21, 2019
And yet when I turn up at the gym with no clothes on, suddenly I'm banned. Barbarians.
+1
Level 65
Aug 21, 2019
Hey, don't blame the berbers!
+1
Level 63
Dec 18, 2023
Right?! It's not called an angionasium!
+2
Level 55
Aug 21, 2019
You might want to consider accepting 'remote' for Tele.
+4
Level 29
Aug 21, 2019
Helps to be Greek! lol
+3
Level 50
Jun 20, 2021
μα φυσικά
+1
Level 66
Aug 21, 2019
Would be nice if you could accept "tiny" for Mikros
+5
Level 65
Aug 21, 2019
Am I wrong here that "sophia" doesn't mean "knowledge," but "wisdom" as distinct from "knowledge" (i.e. gnosis, probably other words too)? This is a pretty important part of Ancient Greek philosophy post-Plato (clue in the name), but the fact that no one else has commented on this has made me doubt myself! I'm pretty sure it should not be "knowledge" though!
+1
Level 50
Feb 19, 2020
You are correct! "Gnosis" is "Knowledge," and "Sophia" is "Wisdom." Philosophy derives from the compound meaning, "the love of wisdom."
+3
Level 68
Aug 21, 2019
I am Greek. I found everything.
+1
Level 21
Aug 23, 2019
50,000 Greek words in the English language! OPA...We invent everything!
+2
Level 57
Aug 24, 2019
Please accept "rob" for klepto
+1
Level 56
Jun 16, 2020
Only 4 of the words are ancient. The rest are still being used to the greek language up until this day.
+1
Level 60
Aug 17, 2020
I tried every form of 'living' I could think of but didn't manage to get 'life' 😅
+1
Level 68
Oct 12, 2020
I just love Greece. The place, the history, the people, the food, the language... I started learning modern Greek two years ago, so this was no big challenge for me. I'm so pissed I've had to cancel my holidays there this year! I was supposed to spend ten days in Paros for a language course, and then a few days in Syros and a week in Naxos.
+2
Level 33
Apr 21, 2021
I think I would have 'thief' as an option for klepto (both because 'klepto' has actually become slang for thief and because κλέπτης is the ancient Greek for thief). 'Steal' is good, of course, (κλέπτω).
+1
Level 48
May 26, 2021
GYMNOS
+2
Level 75
Aug 7, 2021
βεαυτιφυλ qυιζ, θανκσ!
+2
Level 15
Aug 7, 2021
This quiz needs some cleaning up for consistency:

Ofthalmós is how the modern Greek is anglicized. The ancient is ophthalmos.

Pick Y or U for single upsilon and stick with it. It’s either gymnos/ichthys or gumnos/ichthus. The usual way to do it is with a Y, like in ichthyology.

Why are phileo and klepto the only verbs? Makes better sense to stick to noun (and adjective) forms: philia and kleptes. The roots are still recognizable.

You’ve got andros in the genitive (possessive) form just because it makes connecting with English derivatives easier. But would you put “man’s” on a similar English quiz? The form you want is aner. You could put andros in parentheses to help people out.

+1
Level 69
Aug 7, 2021
Is this truly "ancient" Greek we're working with here? Or more recent "classical" Greek? More gerontos than archaeos?
+1
Level 41
Aug 8, 2021
Good one.
+2
Level 53
Dec 13, 2021
Nice quiz, do you think it is possible to allow 'alike' or 'equal' for Homos as well? Both did not work -_-
+1
Level 34
Aug 18, 2022
sophia means wisdom and not knowledge
+2
Level 39
Aug 25, 2022
Its Taurus. Tauros is a pokemon
+2
Level 63
Dec 18, 2023
You're thinking of Latin. "ταύρος" (transliterated "tauros") is Greek for "bull"; "taurus" is Latin. Tauros is indeed also a Pokemon, but those weren't very popular in Socrates's day.
+1
Level 23
Jan 12, 2023
im greek and it was just really ez
+2
Level 48
Mar 2, 2023
Shouldn´t be rob accepted for klepto too?
+2
Level 66
Mar 3, 2023
You should accept "medicine" for "drug" - medicine is the more proper word anyway.

It also can be translated as "remedy" it seems and includes things like wine and oil, which could be considered medicines but never a drug.

+1
Level 65
Mar 3, 2023
Phobia should be accepted for Phobos
+2
Level 39
May 5, 2023
Its quite easy if you are Greek
+1
Level 64
Feb 27, 2024
I kept typing human for Andros :(
+1
Level 34
Mar 1, 2024
"Equal" should be accepted for "Homos" as well imo.