Greek language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Greek
elliniká ελληνικά
Region	Greece, southern Mediterranean
Native speakers	13.4 million  (2012)e18
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  Italy  Romania  Ukraine  Turkey  Croatia  Serbia  North Macedonia
Linguasphere	56-AAA-a 56-AAA-aa to -am (varieties)
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The Greek language is an Indo-European language. It 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 a part of Turkey) and in southern Italy. It was also widely used in Western Asia and Northern Africa at one time. In Greek, the language is called Ελληνικά (elliniká).

Greeks write their language using the Greek alphabet. The Latin alphabet (used to write English and many other languages) came from the Greek alphabet. Many other alphabets around the world also came from the Greek one.

Greek has an unbroken history of being a written language for over 3,000 years. This is longer than any other Indo-European language spoken today. This history is often divided into three parts, ancient Greek, medieval Greek, and modern Greek. The years 330-1453 are called medieval Greek because that's the time of the Byzantine Empire.

Over 15 million people in the world speak Greek now. These speakers mostly live in Greece and Cyprus. There are also people in other countries around the world who speak the language. This is largely because people left Greece and emigrated, meaning they moved to other countries. Countries like the United States and Australia have a large Greek diaspora.

Related pages

• Greek numbers
• Ancient Greek language

Images for kids

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  Idealised portrayal of the author Homer

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  Proto-Greek-speaking area according to linguist Vladimir I. Georgiev

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  Distribution of varieties of Greek in Anatolia, 1910. Demotic in yellow. Pontic in orange. Cappadocian Greek in green, with green dots indicating individual Cappadocian Greek villages.

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  Greek inscription in Cypriot syllabic script

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  Ancient epichoric variants of the Greek alphabet from Euboea, Ionia, Athens, and Corinth comparing to modern Greek

See also

In Spanish: Idioma griego para niños