Ancient Greek word root · Society & Law

dem-: people

dem- is an Ancient Greek root meaning “people”. Learn its variants and explore 5 connected words.

Meaning and variants

Meaning: people

Root forms: dem-, demo-

Source word: δῆμος — district, country, land

Word family and examples

• democratic

  Pertaining to democracy; constructed upon or in line with the principle of government chosen by the people.

• democracy

  a system of government by the whole population, typically through elected representatives

• democrat

  A supporter of democracy; an advocate of democratic politics (originally (historical) as opposed to the aristocrats in Revolutionary France).

• demography

  The study of the characteristics of human populations, especially with regards to their makeup and fluctuations and the social causes behind these.

• demagogue

  a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices

Root connections help with vocabulary recall. They are not a complete etymological history, and a spelling match alone does not prove a relationship.

Explore this root in the app →