Pronunciation: (he-len'ik, -lē'nik),[key] —adj. 1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the ancient Greeks or their language, culture, thought, etc., esp. before the time of Alexander the Great. Cf. Hellenistic (def. 3).
—n. 1. Also called Greek. a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, comprising a variety of ancient, medieval, and modern dialects and languages, all of them called Greek.