Latin words make up about 50% (including Norman French words), and Greek makes up about 5%. The rest are mainly Germanic.
The Greek language has a heavy influence on the English speaking civilization of the West. For example, English Greek was phonetic and was the first language that used vowels. Greek's incredibly diverse vocabulary also influenced and contributed to modern English. Thirteen point two percent of Modern day English is derived from the vocabulary of ancient Greece. Greek's written language has also influenced the creation of the English alphabet. The Greek alphabet produced many letters that are similar to the English. For example Greek's Beta is extremely similar to the English letter B. The letters of the Greek alphabet are used nowadays in modern English to represent mathematics and scientific concepts.
Some English words derived from the Greek word "polis" include politics, police, and metropolis.
Greek is one of several languages that form the basis for many modern ones - like English. If you learn the meanings of common Greek root words, then you will be able to understand new words when you first see them.
Greek has contributed to English in several ways, including direct borrowings from Greek and indirectly through other languages (mainly Latin or French). In a typical 80,000-word English dictionary, about 5% of the words are directly borrowed from Greek; this is about equivalent to the vocabulary of an educated speaker of English (for example, "phenomenon" is a Greek word and even obeys Greek grammar rules as the plural is "phenomena"). However, around 25% are borrowed indirectly. This is because there were many Greek words borrowed in Latin originally, which then filtered down into English because English borrowed so many words from Latin (for example, "elaiwa" in Greek evolved into the Latin "oliva", which in turn became "olive" in English). Greek is often used in coining very specialized technical or scientific words, however, so the percentage of words borrowed from Greek rises much higher when considering highly scientific vocabulary (for example, "oxytetracycline" is a medical term that has several Greek roots).
Greek is similar to other languages in the Indo-European language family, such as Latin, English, and Sanskrit. It shares some similarities in vocabulary and grammar with these languages due to their common linguistic roots. Additionally, Greek has also been influenced by languages such as Turkish, Italian, and French.
Greek and Latin
Some Greek vocabulary words that are used in English writing are kudos, phobia, genesis, and dogma. The Greek language has had a strong impact on the English language.
Donald C. Swanson has written: 'Vocabulary of modern spoken Greek (English-Greek and Greek-English)'
Demons
hypocrisy is the English word derived from the Greek word hypokrites
Hara Garoufalia-Middle has written: 'Read & speak Greek for beginners' -- subject(s): Modern Greek language, Textbooks for foreign speakers, English 'Holiday Greek' 'Build your Greek vocabulary' -- subject(s): Greek language, Vocabulary, English, Textbooks for foreign speakers, Spoken Greek, Sound recordings for English speakers
The Greek language has a heavy influence on the English speaking civilization of the West. For example, English Greek was phonetic and was the first language that used vowels. Greek's incredibly diverse vocabulary also influenced and contributed to modern English. Thirteen point two percent of Modern day English is derived from the vocabulary of ancient Greece. Greek's written language has also influenced the creation of the English alphabet. The Greek alphabet produced many letters that are similar to the English. For example Greek's Beta is extremely similar to the English letter B. The letters of the Greek alphabet are used nowadays in modern English to represent mathematics and scientific concepts.
35000
Do no harm.
Norma Fifer has written: 'Vocabulary from classical roots' -- subject(s): English language, Foreign elements, Greek, Greek language, Influence on English, Latin, Latin language, Problems, exercises, Roots, Study and teaching, Vocabulary 'Vocabulary from Classical Roots - Book C'
Lynne Nigalis has written: 'Exploring GL vocabulary' -- subject(s): Children, Cloze procedure, English language, Foreign elements, Greek, Greek language, Influence on English, Language, Latin, Latin language, Roots, Social aspects, Social aspects of Vocabulary, Vocabulary
W. J. Bullick has written: 'Greek vocabulary and idiom for higher forms' -- subject(s): Dictionaries, Greek, Greek language, English language, English