Table of Contents
Spend a week in Greece and the same few words keep arriving at the table: meraki, kefi, filotimo, filoxenia. They are not in the phrasebook, because nobody orders anything with them, yet they explain more about why a taverna owner brings a free dessert, why a stranger walks you to the ferry and why dinner runs until one in the morning than any amount of cultural advice.
This guide covers sixteen Greek words with no clean English equivalent. For each one you get the Greek script, the pronunciation, the nearest English translation, the actual meaning, and the kind of moment in which you will hear it, from a taverna table to a village dance floor. The questions at the end answer what people search for most, from what meraki means to which Greek words describe love.
For the practical vocabulary needed to travel in Greece, see basic Greek words and essential Greek phrases. This article is for something different: the conceptual vocabulary that explains Greek culture.
Each word below is shown in Greek script as well as Latin letters; if you would like to sound the script out yourself, start with our guide to the Greek alphabet for travellers.
1. Meraki — Μεράκι
Pronunciation: me-RA-ki
Nearest translation: Doing something with soul, love, and creativity.
Meraki describes a quality of full engagement with what you are doing — investing yourself in a task in a way that goes beyond competence. A cook who makes food with meraki is not following a recipe; they are putting something of themselves into the dish. A carpenter, a musician, a host who sets the table me meraki — all of these people are doing something as well as it can be done, with full personal care.
The noun form meraklis (με-ρα-ΚΛΗΣ) describes a person who brings this quality to everything they do. Being called a meraklis in your domain is a compliment of the highest order.
When you will encounter it: When a taverna owner explains their particular way of making a dish. When a craftsperson shows you something they made. When a local describes a specialist in the next village worth seeking out.
2. Kefi — Κέφι
Pronunciation: KE-fee
Nearest translation: High spirits; collective joy; an animated state of celebration.
Kefi describes a specific quality of mood — not just happiness, but the kind of lifted, open-hearted energy that comes over a group when everything is going right. A table where people are eating well, talking over each other, laughing — that table has kefi. A dance that breaks out spontaneously has kefi. It cannot be planned or manufactured. You create the conditions and hope it arrives.
If someone says "den echo kefi simera" (I don't have kefi today), they are not simply saying they are tired. They are saying something is fundamentally off in their mood — the energy required for full participation in life is absent.
When you will encounter it: At a good taverna late in the evening. At a festival. Wherever a group of Greeks gathers and the energy lifts.
3. Filotimo — Φιλότιμο
Pronunciation: fee-LO-tee-mo
Nearest translation: Love of honour; a deep sense of personal dignity and social duty.
Filotimo is widely considered the most important and most untranslatable Greek word. The literal breakdown — filos (loving) + timi (honour) — gives only the skeleton. Filotimo in practice is the deep inner obligation to behave well, be generous, care for others, and uphold one's dignity — not because one is told to, but because failing to do so would be personally shameful. It operates without calculation and without expectation of return.
It is the force that makes a Greek host overfeed you even when they cannot afford it. It is why a stranger will rearrange their entire day to make sure you are not lost. It is why being unhelpful to a visitor would be experienced not merely as rudeness but as a failure of self.
When you will encounter it: Constantly, if you are paying attention. The extra dish that appears without charge. The person who insists on walking you to the ferry rather than just pointing. The guide who stays an extra hour not because they are paid to but because leaving you with unanswered questions would be wrong.
4. Filoxenia — Φιλοξενία
Pronunciation: fee-lo-kse-NEE-a
Nearest translation: Hospitality; love of strangers.
Filoxenia — filos (loving) + xenos (stranger, foreigner, guest) — is the value that a stranger deserves to be welcomed, fed, and cared for. It is not mere politeness. It is the genuine human impulse to treat the person who arrives at your door, your table, your town as someone deserving of your best. The Greek mythology of hospitality, where Zeus himself is said to travel incognito testing how strangers are treated, reflects how seriously the obligation has always been taken.
When you will encounter it: In food that arrives unordered. In the offer of a drink you didn't ask for. In directions given with walking accompaniment rather than a wave of the hand. Greece's warmth toward visitors is not accidental — it is filoxenia as a lived value.
5. Parea — Παρέα
Pronunciation: pa-RE-a
Nearest translation: A group of friends; good company.
Parea describes the social unit of friends or companions with whom you do things — eat, go out, travel. But the concept carries more weight than "company." The quality of the parea — the warmth, the ease, the shared history — matters more than the location or the food. Greeks will change plans and travel distances to be with the right parea. "Kali parea" (good company) is the prerequisite for a good time.
When you will encounter it: If a Greek invites you to join their parea for the evening, accept without reservation.
6. Kaimos — Καημός
Pronunciation: ka-ee-MOS
Nearest translation: A deep, bittersweet longing; grief mixed with yearning.
Kaimos describes a sorrow that is specifically also a longing — the ache of missing someone, the grief of a place or time that cannot be returned to. It sits between nostalgia and melancholy but is more specific than either. It has an object: something or someone for whom the kaimos is felt. It appears frequently in Greek rebetiko music — the blues tradition of early twentieth-century Greece — where it carries the weight of displacement and loss.
When you will encounter it: In Greek music when you can feel the emotional weight without understanding the words. In the way older Greeks speak about their villages, their islands, their pasts.
7. Agapi — Αγάπη
Pronunciation: a-GA-pee
Nearest translation: Selfless, devoted love.
Ancient Greek distinguished at least six types of love. Three survive prominently in modern Greek: eros (romantic desire), philia (friendship and affection), and agapi (love as devotion and selfless care). Agapi is the love a parent has for a child, expressed through attention and sacrifice rather than passion. It is used freely — "agapi mou" (my love) is a common address toward children, close friends, and partners — but its roots give it a weight the casual English "love" lacks.
A fourth word completes the everyday set: storgi (στοργή) is family tenderness, the affection between parent and child or between siblings that nobody chose and nobody questions. Pothos (number 10 below) names longing for what is absent, and kapsoura (number 14) names the fever. Between them, modern Greek covers ground that English crams into the single word love.
When you will encounter it: Constantly, in the way Greeks address each other.
8. Syghari — Συγχαίρω
Pronunciation: seeng-HE-ro (I congratulate); the noun for congratulations is sygharitiria, seeng-ha-ree-TEE-ree-a
Nearest translation: To share in another's joy; congratulations as genuine co-celebration.
The root combines syn (together, with) + hairo (to rejoice) — it describes joy felt with another person at their good fortune. Not a formulaic congratulation but a genuine sharing in their happiness. This is why Greek celebrations of good news — namedays, births, engagements, exam results — feel so emphatic: the people expressing joy are genuinely co-experiencing it.
How the name day itself works, from the open door to the tray of sweets, is in our guide to Greek name days.
When you will encounter it: At any celebration. When something good happens to someone in a Greek family or community.
9. Μερακλής — Meraklis
Pronunciation: me-rak-LIS
The noun form of meraki: a person who cannot do anything halfway. A meraklis cook uses only the best ingredients. A meraklis musician knows every version of every song. A meraklis anything approaches their domain with devotion that exceeds professional requirement. The word is used admiringly.
When you will encounter it: When a local recommends someone — a baker, a craftsperson, a fisherman — whose work is worth seeking out specifically.
10. Pothos — Πόθος
Pronunciation: PO-thos
Nearest translation: Yearning; longing for what is absent or unattainable.
Pothos describes desire in its specifically unfulfilled form — the longing for someone not present, a place that cannot be returned to, something just out of reach. In classical mythology, Pothos was a companion of Eros — desire as the seeking force of life. It is a word for the ache that drives you toward what you cannot yet have.
When you will encounter it: In Greek love songs, poetry, and in the particular emotional quality of Greek expression when people speak about what matters most.
11. Kerasma — Κέρασμα
Pronunciation: KE-ras-ma
Nearest translation: A gift of food or drink; a treat offered freely.
Kerasma is the word for the complimentary dessert or shot that arrives at the end of a meal at a good Greek taverna — the gesture of hospitality from the owner that does not appear on the bill. It is a form of filoxenia in action. Attempting to pay for it is not just unnecessary; it slightly misunderstands the gesture.
For how words like these play out in daily life, from name days to the evil eye, see our guide to Greek customs and traditions.
When you will encounter it: At any traditional taverna when the owner likes you or you are a repeat visitor. The correct response is efharisto (thank you) and nothing more.
Efharisto has a better backstory than most words on this list: it comes from eu and charis, good grace, the same root as Eucharist. The full story is in our guide to thank you in Greek.
12. Siga Siga — Σιγά Σιγά
Pronunciation: see-GA see-GA
Nearest translation: Slowly, slowly; take it easy; there is no rush.
Not a single word but a phrase that functions as a complete philosophy. Siga siga is the Greek equivalent of the Italian piano piano — an instruction to relax the pace, not to hurry, to let things unfold at their natural speed. It is said to someone anxious about a delay, to a waiter explaining that the food will arrive when it arrives, to yourself when things are not going as planned. It is, in many ways, the most distinctively Greek phrase in this guide.
When you will encounter it: Constantly. Any time you express urgency about something that a Greek person believes can wait.
13. Xenitia — Ξενιτιά
Pronunciation: kse-nee-TYA
Nearest translation: Living abroad; the ache of being far from home.
A xenos is a stranger, and xenitia is the condition of being one: living far from the place you belong. It is not a neutral word for emigration. Whole generations of Greeks left their villages for Athens, then for Germany, Australia and the United States, and xenitia became the name for all of it at once, the work, the loneliness and the distance. The person living it is the xenitemenos, a stock figure in Greek folk songs.
Its mirror image is nostos, the homecoming, the word at the heart of the Odyssey and the root of the English nostalgia (nostos plus algos, pain). To see where that story ends, read our guide to Ithaca and the Odyssey.
When you will encounter it: When an older islander explains that half the family lives in Melbourne or Chicago. In folk songs about leaving. At village festivals in summer, when relatives who live abroad come home.
14. Kapsoura — Κάψουρα
Pronunciation: KAP-soo-ra
Nearest translation: A burning craving for someone or something.
Kapsoura is related to kapsa, heat, and it behaves like a fever. It is a physical, restless yearning, most often for a person, though Greeks also use it for a craving for a place, a food or a holiday that has been too long delayed. Where pothos is the quiet ache of absence, kapsoura is the burning of it. Nobody reflects on kapsoura; they try to get rid of it.
When you will encounter it: In Greek pop and laika lyrics. In teasing between friends when someone is visibly smitten. In the mouth of any Greek who has gone a whole winter without the sea.
15. Levendia — Λεβεντιά
Pronunciation: le-ven-dee-A
Nearest translation: Gallantry; a proud, spirited, open-handed way of carrying yourself.
A levendis (levendissa, for a woman) is someone with bearing: upright, brave, generous, quick to help and slow to complain. Levendia is that quality in action. It is partly a way of standing and moving, which is why Greeks reach for the word when a dancer takes the floor and the room goes quiet. It overlaps with filotimo, but filotimo is the inner standard and levendia is how it looks from across the room.
When you will encounter it: Watching a zeibekiko or a tsamiko danced well. When an older Greek is described as a real levendis. At a village dance when the best dancer is given the floor.
16. Opa — Όπα
Pronunciation: O-pa
Nearest translation: There is none; an exclamation of joy, effort, surprise or encouragement.
Opa is not a toast, whatever restaurants abroad suggest; at the table the toast is yamas, as our guide to cheers in Greek explains. Opa is closer to a spoken exclamation mark. It is said when someone lifts something heavy, when a glass wobbles and is saved, when a dancer drops into a low step, when the band lands a good phrase. It marks the moment when kefi stops being a mood and becomes movement.
When you will encounter it: On any dance floor at a wedding or a bouzouki night. Behind a waiter carrying a loaded tray through a crowded taverna. Whenever Greeks want to say well done without a sentence.
Untranslatable Greek Words: Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most famous untranslatable Greek words?
The best known are meraki (doing something with soul), kefi (collective high spirits), filotimo (love of honour and dignity) and filoxenia (hospitality toward strangers). Others with no clean English equivalent include parea, kaimos, xenitia, kapsoura, levendia and siga siga. Filotimo is widely considered the hardest of all to translate.
What does meraki mean in Greek?
Meraki (μεράκι) means doing something with soul, love and creativity: putting so much of yourself into a task that the result carries your personal care. A cook who makes a dish with meraki is not following a recipe, they are investing in it. Greeks say they do something me meraki, meaning with meraki. The word came into Greek from Turkish merak.
What does meraklis mean?
A meraklis (μερακλής) is a person who brings meraki to everything they do, someone who cannot do a thing halfway. Calling a cook, a musician or a craftsperson a meraklis is high praise, and Greeks use it when recommending someone whose work is worth seeking out.
What does kefi mean?
Kefi (κέφι) is a state of high spirits and joy, the lifted mood of a group when food, company and music come together. It cannot be forced; you create the conditions and it arrives or it does not. If a Greek says den echo kefi simera, they mean I have no kefi today (simera means today): not simply tired, but without the energy to take part.
What is the most untranslatable Greek word?
Filotimo (φιλότιμο), literally love of honour, is widely considered the hardest Greek word to translate. It is the inner obligation to behave generously and take responsibility, not because anyone is watching but because failing to would be personally shameful. It drives much of the behaviour visitors experience as exceptional Greek generosity.
What does kaimos mean?
Kaimos (καημός) is a bittersweet longing: sorrow that is also yearning, with an object, a person, a place or a time that cannot be returned to. It is common in rebetiko songs and in the way older Greeks talk about their villages and islands.
Are there Greek words like meraki?
Within Greek, the closest relatives are meraklis (the person who has meraki), filotimo (doing right by others without being asked) and kefi (the mood meraki often produces). English has no single equivalent; the nearest phrases are labour of love or putting your heart into it.
What are the Greek words for love?
Ancient Greek separated love into several kinds, and four are still useful: eros (passionate desire), philia (friendship and affection), storgi (family tenderness) and agapi (devoted, selfless love). Two more words name the ache of wanting: pothos is yearning for what is absent, and kapsoura is a burning craving.
What does agapi mou mean?
Agapi mou (αγάπη μου) means my love. Greeks say it to partners, but also to children and close friends. It is warm rather than romantic, because the word agapi carries the sense of devotion rather than passion.
What does xenitia mean?
Xenitia (ξενιτιά) is the condition of living abroad, far from home, a word shaped by generations of Greek emigration. Its counterpart is nostos, the homecoming that gives English the word nostalgia.
What is the difference between filotimo and filoxenia?
Filoxenia (φιλοξενία), love of strangers, is the duty to welcome a guest well. Filotimo (φιλότιμο), love of honour, is the wider inner standard that makes you do the right thing without being asked. Filoxenia is one of the ways filotimo shows up: the host who feeds you generously is acting from both.
Is opa a Greek toast?
No. The toast is yamas. Opa (όπα) is an exclamation of joy, effort or encouragement, said on a dance floor, when something is lifted or caught, or when the music lands. Shouting it as a toast marks you as a tourist.
Plan Your Greece Trip
- Basic Greek Words — the practical starter vocabulary for visitors
- Essential Greek Phrases — 50+ phrases with pronunciation
- Hello in Greek — greetings and how to use them
- Cheers in Greek — yamas and the ritual behind the toast
- The Greek Evil Eye (Mati) — matiasmenos, vaskania, and the words around the blue eye
- How to Eat at a Greek Taverna — where meraki, kefi, and kerasma all play out
- How to Plan a Trip to Greece — the full planning framework
🇬🇷 Planning a trip to Greece? Use our AI Trip Planner to build your itinerary — or take our quiz to find the right destination for your travel style.
Written by
Athens-born engineer · Coordinates a 5-expert Greek team · 50+ years combined field experience
I write every article on this site drawing on real, first-hand expertise — mine and that of four colleagues who live and work across Greece daily: a Peloponnese tour operator, a transfer specialist across Athens, Mykonos & Santorini, a Cretan hotel owner, and a Northern Greece hotel supplier. Nothing here comes from a single visit or desk research.
Informed by 5 Greek experts
Every destination we cover has been visited and vetted by at least one team member — not for a review, but as part of their daily work in Greek tourism.