adj, name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Of or relating to such a language or its speakers. not-comparable

   "Pre-Greek substrate"

2. 2
   Alternative form of Pre-Greek. alt-of, alternative, not-comparable

Proper Noun

1. 1
   A hypothetical language (or languages) conjectured to have been spoken in prehistoric Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greek speakers, and used to explain the large number of non-Indo-European words found in Ancient Greek.

Example

More examples

"Pre-Greek is a substrate language hypothesized to explain certain Greek words of non-Indo-European origin."

Etymology

Calque of German Vorgriechisch. By surface analysis, pre- + Greek.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.