Greek language

The Greek language, also referred to as the Grecian language, is an Indo-European language that is the official language of Greece (Hellas) and Cyprus. It was first spoken in Greece and was also once spoken along the coast of Asia Minor (now part of Turkey) and in southern Italy. It also used to be widely used in Western Asia and North Africa. In Greek, the language is called Ελληνικά (Elliniká).

Greek
elliniká
Eλληνικά
Pronunciation	[eliniˈka]
Region	Greece, southern Mediterranean
Native speakers	13 million (2012)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Hellenic Greek
Dialects	Ancient dialects Modern dialects
Writing system	Greek alphabet Greek Braille
Official status
Official language in	Greece  Cyprus  European Union
Recognised minority language in	Albania  Armenia  Hungary  Germany  Italy  Romania  Ukraine  Portugal  Turkey  Croatia  Serbia  North Macedonia [2]
Language codes
ISO 639-1	el
ISO 639-2	gre (B) ell (T)
ISO 639-3	Variously: ell – Modern Greek grc – Ancient Greek cpg – Cappadocian Greek gmy – Mycenaean Greek pnt – Pontic tsd – Tsakonian yej – Yevanic
Glottolog	gree1276
Linguasphere	56-AAA-a 56-AAA-aa to -am (varieties)
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Spoken Greek

The language is written using the Greek alphabet. The Latin alphabet, which is used in writing English and many other languages, came indirectly from the Greek alphabet through the Etruscan alphabet. Many other alphabets around the world also came from the Greek alphabet.

Greek has an unbroken history of being a written language for over 3,000 years. That is longer than any other Indo-European language that is spoken today. Its history is often divided into three parts: Ancient Greek, Medieval Greek, and Modern Greek, which is also called Byzzantine Greek because it was spoken in the Byzantine Empire.

Over 13 million people in the world speak Greek as of 2021, mostly live in Greece (almost 11 million) and Cyprus (over 1 million). There are also people in other countries around the world who speak the language, largely because people left Greece and Cyprus and emigrated to other countries. The United States and Australia have a large Greek diaspora.

Related pages

• Greek numbers