griechische

Griechische is a German adjective meaning "Greek." It is used to indicate origin, culture, language, or characteristics related to Greece and its people, and it appears before nouns to describe something as Greek. The form griechische is the attributive ending used in various declensions, depending on gender, number, and case. For example: griechische Kultur (Greek culture), griechische Inseln (Greek islands), griechischer Wein (Greek wine), griechisches Alphabet (the Greek alphabet).

Declension patterns

- Without a determiner (strong declension): nominative masculine griechischer, nominative feminine griechische, nominative neuter griechisches, nominative plural griechische.

- With a definite article (weak declension): die griechische Kultur (feminine singular), die griechischen Inseln (plural).

- With an indefinite article (mixed declension): eine griechische Kultur (feminine singular).

- In context, the form griechische can appear for plural nominative or feminine singular in the appropriate declension, while other forms exist for other cases (griechischen, griechischem, etc.).

Usage notes

- The word can describe language, art, cuisine, archaeology, geography, and more, as in griechische Sprache, griechische Kunst, oder griechische Küche.

- In some contexts, the capitalized noun form das Griechische (the Greek language or studies) may be used, especially when the adjective functions as a noun, though Griechisch as the noun for the language is also common.

Etymology

Griechische derives from the German adjective griechisch, itself from the ethnonym Grieche and ultimately from Latin Graecus, which in turn comes from Ancient Greek Graikós. The term has been used in German since early stages of the language to designate anything related to Greece.