Ancient Greek dictionary · noun

πόλις

city

Transliteration: polis

Dictionary forms: πόλῐς, πόλεος

Inflection: third declension

Meaning and definitions

1. city
2. the Athenian citadel
3. one's city or country
4. city governor, praetor urbanus
5. a whole country, as dependent on and called after its city: city state
6. community

Connected roots

• polis

  city, state

Explore the word family

These words share a recorded root connection. A shared root is a learning clue; it does not establish every step in a word’s history.

• politics

  the activities associated with the governance of a country or area

• metropolis

  the chief or capital city of a country or region

• cosmopolitan

  familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures

• acropolis

  A promontory (usually fortified with a citadel) forming the hub of many Grecian cities, and around which many were built for defensive purposes before and during the classical period; compare Acropolis.

• necropolis

  A cemetery; especially a large one in or near a city.

• megalopolis

  A large conurbation, where two or more large cities have sprawled outward to meet, forming something larger than a normal metropolis.

Recorded forms

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