κάβος Two meanings. 1) a cape or headland and 2) the thick mooring rope used to secure a boat Παίρνω κάβο = to begin to understand, the penny drops I saw it used with the verb ξεπερνώ as in ξεπέρασε η κυβέρνηση τον κάβο… meaning the government had got round one problem. Not to be... Continue Reading →
23/001 Greek Word
ξενέρωτος – η – ο adjective meaning 1) sober and 2) boring A good word to start off 2023 after eleven days of Christmas. One more to go and the festive period is over. ξενέρωτος comes from the verb ξενερώνω which means to sober up or to sober someone else up. This conjures up images... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 30/2022
μόριο – a molecule A molecular biologist is a μοριακός βιολόγος and μοριακό βάρος is molecular weight. Less scientifically it can mean a ‘speck’. In grammar επιρρηματικά μόρια are adverbial particles (words like δε, θα, να, μεν). And now we return to biology because μόριο is a euphemism for penis. In the article below, the... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 29/2022
Φόλα = poison, especially poison laid out for stray dogs The bane of my life. A lifelong cat-lover, I have been betrayed by both my children, who prefer dogs. My elegant daughter has an equally elegant King Charles. My son has a rough-and-tumble Belgian Shepherd cross, a bit like him! Both are beautiful animals, and... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 28/2022
σουρτούκω Opposite the Dubliner in Katouni Street, Thessaloniki, there is a restaurant called Σουρτούκω. My wife told me σουρτούκω means a woman who doesn’t like staying indoors or being a housewife, and who likes going out all the time. It is a variant of σουρτούκα. The masculine form is σουρτούκης (plural σουρτούκηδες), but the feminine... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 27/2022
κλούβιος 1) rotten, 2) stupid The word collocates with αυγό as in κλούβιο αυγό meaning a rotten egg. In this case it is not used metaphorically in the way ‘bad egg’ is used in English to describe a wicked or unpleasant person, which in Greek would be αυτός είναι κακιάς κοπής. Its second meaning is... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 26/2022
ζουρλομανδύας = straitjacket The word came up in conversation, and it struck me as odd as the first part – ζουρλο – definitiely isn’t Greek. It isn’t even a word a student would use in a school essay. Apparently, it’s of Venetian origin. The second part – μανδύας – meant a woollen cloak in Ancient... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 25/2022
μπάκα = a big belly, a paunch, a beer gut The word is of Albanian origin. A report in www.iefimerida.gr included a clip of a well-known TV presenter making fun of the tennis skills of Adonis Georgiadis, Minister of Development and Investment. The ‘development’ under discussion was Georgiadis's waistline. However, Georgiadis, not noted for his... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 24/2022
μπουρδολόγος - a bullshitter from μπούρδες = nonsense, bullshit, hogwash. Most often μπούρδες is used in the plural, though there is a singular noun: μπούρδα. Babiniotis says it comes from the French ‘bourde’, which he translates as ανοησία and βλακεία, both synonyms of μπούρδα. However, I’m not completely convinced. ‘Bourde’ in French means a lie... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 23/2022
κατσικώνομαι = overstay one’s welcome Despite the size and weight of Babiniotis’ dictionary, there are some omissions that seem to suggest there might be problems with the corpus or database. However, in fairness to the renowned lexicographer, I must point out that Word highlights κατσικώνομαι as being incorrect. In times of need, where do you... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 22/2022
Apologies in advance for the irregular font sizes: Θωπεύω: 1) caress or stroke; 2) to flatter A strange word that I have never heard anyone say. I came across it years ago and promptly forget the meaning. Then – after decades - I read it recently, only to see it once again a few days.... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 21/2022
επισύνδεση Judging from what I’ve read, the word is unfamiliar even to Greeks. Word’s auto-correct also flags it as being either incorrect or non-existent. When talking about phones, σύνδεση and αποσύνδεση are ‘connection’ and ‘disconnection’ respectively, but επισύνδεση is an add-on, specifically wire-tapping. It’s not necessarily illegal if a warrant is issued, but the question... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 20/2022
Ξυλάγγουρο = an Armenian cucumber. God knows what that is. Bigger than a gherkin but smaller than a standard cucumber. A synonym is αντζούρι. However, ξυλάγγουρο is used mainly as an insult with two basic meanings. 1) A tall, thin awkward person, and 2) someone who is thick and uneducated. Regarding the first definition, I... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 19/2022
πρόσφορο = a (religious) offering One of the problems in learning Greek is that a change in stress and/or word-ending can change meaning: πεζοδρόμιο/πεζόδρομος/πεζοδρόμος = pavement/pedestrian precinct/walker or hiker; διάδρομος/διαδρομή = hallway, aisle/itinerary, route. In the same way, το πρόσφορο differs from η προσφορά, which means ‘an offer’ from the verb προσφέρω. Interestingly, there is... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 18/2022
μπαϊπασάκης (plural μπαϊπασάκηδες) – a person who has had a heart bypass By chance I ran into a former student a few days ago. She was with a friend, and my wife and I met up with them in the evening. We also had breakfast the following morning where the subject of fitness walking cropped... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 17/2022
γλειφτρόνι = an arse-licker I have opted for the more vulgar translation because the suffix -ρόνι adds more venom to the original word γλείφτης. Indeed, www.slang.gr describes the suffix as a “γαμοσλανγκοκατάληξη”. I’ll let you work out that one for yourselves! I think the ν in the middle of the word is wrong. From γλείφω... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 16/2022
εκδίδω – literally “to give out” The modern Greek for ‘give’ is δίνω but when combined with prefixes, the older form -δίδω is usually used as in the following examples: αποδίδω (yield or attribute), μεταδίδω (transmit or infect), προδίδω (betray). εκδίδω has two main meanings: 1) publish or edit (books, papers, decisions, rulings etc) and... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 15/2022
Διπλοκούρσα or διπλή κούρσα = the practice of taxi drivers taking additional passengers/fares, the additional fares not being metered. I cannot remember the details, nor can I find anything online, but sometime during the first PASOK administration (1981-85), there was a big change which affected taxi drivers. Until the change, I think anybody could paint... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 14/2022
κάργα – adverb = completely or fully I heard this on the radio when I was in Athens a few days ago. With regard to liquids, it means ‘to the brim’ as in Τα ποτήρια ήταν κάργα κρασί = The wine glasses were filled to the brim. Synonyms are φίσκα and τίγκα. By extension, it... Continue Reading →
Greek Word 13/2022
σερέτης plural σερέτηδες Continuing from GW 12/2022 σερέτης is another word that has travelled from the Arab world to Turkey and then on to Greece. Initially, I was looking for a proper noun because many of the streets near me have the names of notable Greeks: Seferis, a Nobel Prize winning poet; Tsitsanis a famous... Continue Reading →