a brief glossary of greek terms
| greek term | transliteration | meanings |
| agaqos | agathos | the good, or what is good in and of itself |
| 'airetos | hairetos | what is worthy of our choosing |
| aisqhsis | aisthesis | perception |
| alnqeia | aletheia | usually translated as "truth," but literally means to un-conceal |
| anqropos | anthropos | human being |
| apeiron | apeiron | unlimited, boundless |
| arch | arche | origin |
| arete | arete | virtue, or that condition of something that makes it the most excellent, i.e. its best |
| genesis | genesis | becoming |
| daimon | daimon | No English equivalent, but is close to spirit in the sense of pneuma, breath, or the Chinese concept of ch'i, sometimes translated as "vital breath" |
| dianoia | dianoia | thought, literally through the mind or nous |
| dikaiopragein | dikaiopragein | to do justice, to act with justice |
| dikaiosunh | dikaiosune | justice (cf. the Greek goddess, dike) |
| doxa | doxa | Usually translated as opinion, sometimes as judgment; the closest English equivalent is probably "opine" |
| eqos | ethos | habit, practice |
| eidos | eidos | idea, form, species |
| episthmh | episteme | knowledge |
| ergon | ergon | function |
| eros | eros | erotic passion, erotic love |
| eudaimonia | eudaimonia | happiness, the good life, the complete life, literally to have a good daimon |
| 'hdonh | hedone | pleasure |
| hqikos | ethikos | ethics, ethical (cf. hqos, character) |
| hqos | éthos | character, a condition of one's "soul" |
| qanatos | thanatos | death |
| qeos | theos | god, divinity, deity |
| qewrein, qewria | thorein, theoria | study, observe, or attend to something |
| kairos | kairos | opportunity, fitness, proportion, the right time |
| kalos | kalos | fine, beautiful |
| koinos | koinos | what is common, or shared |
| kosmos | kosmos | world, but includes the order of the world or universe, it may be more similar to our word "universe" |
| legein | legein | to speak, to say (from the root word "logos") |
| logos | logos | This word really has no English equivalent, but comes close to the combination of a principle of: reason, account, ratio, order, balance |
| mimhsis | mimesis | copy |
| nomos | nomos | law, convention |
| nous | nous | mind |
| 'oi polloi | hoi polloi | the many, the masses, most people (Cf. Nietzsche, the herd) |
| 'orizein | horizein | define or diorizein to distinguish (from 'oros, limit, or boundary), thus literally to establish a limit |
| orqodoxa | orthodoxa | translated by the English term "orthodoxy," and means agreement with an established set of traditional beliefs, hence implies what is simply taken for granted, or taken without thoughtfulness. |
| orqos | orthos | correct, or to be successful (as in pursuing a telos) |
| ousia | ousia | substance |
| paideia | paideia | education |
| poihsis | poiesis | producing, making, forming, creating |
| polis | polis | a city state |
| praxis | praxis | action |
| pro'airesis | prohairesis | a decision, literally to choose what is worthy in advance |
| simulakrum | simulacrum | a false or bad copy, something for which there is no original |
| sojia | sophia | wisdom |
| sojisths | sophistes | Sophist, literally an expert in wisdom |
| sojrosunh | sophrosune | temperance, or moderation |
| telos | telos | end, goal, aim |
| tecnh | techne | a craft, an art, a technique |
| timh | time | honour |
| tuch | tuche | fortune |
| 'ubris | hubris | arrogance, to rashly forget one's limit |
| ugran | ugran | water, wet, moist, supple, pliant |
| fainesqai | phainesthai | appear, appearance, evident, apparent, literally to shine forth |
| jilia, jilos | philia, philos | friendship, friend (jilein - love) |
| jronhsis | phronesis | practical wisdom |
| jrovhmos | phronemos | one who has practical wisdom |
| jusis | phusis (physis) | nature, or what is natural to something, or its function |
| cronos | chronos | a segment or succession of time |
| yuch | psuche | the activity of a living body, sort of like the term 'soul' |