demotic

1. 1.

   a simplified cursive form of the ancient hieratic script

   “Demotic script was eventually replaced by Greek”

   SynonymsDemotic script

   Broaderhieratic
2. 2.

   the modern Greek vernacular

   SynonymsRomaic

   BroaderModern Greek

1. 1.

   of or written in or belonging to the form of modern Greek based on colloquial use
2. 2.

   of or for the common people

   “demotic entertainments”

   “demotic speech”

   “a poet with a keen ear for demotic rhythms”

   Similarcommon

Other forms of demotic

plural

demotics·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about demotic

What does demotic mean?

demotic means "a simplified cursive form of the ancient hieratic script". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in demotic?

demotic has 3 syllables: de-mo-tic. The stress falls on "mo".

What is another word for demotic?

Close synonyms include Demotic script, Romaic. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is demotic a common word?

demotic is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.