Contributions

Paraskos

*busso / bus - at a guess there were not many buses in rural Cyprus when people left in the 1960s a…

Lucia

Negatch or Nagatch, people pronounce it differently but it comes from the word anagatcho

Christopher C. (via email)

A good many years ago, in a pub near the old London docks, I heard some Greek sailors use a word th…

Luke K. (via email)

I am fascinated by your research into Grenglish. I was born and brought up in London, UK, originall…

Christopher C.

I was born (1947) in London, to Greek Cypriot parents; for five years (from the age of 6 years till…

TP

Is the ‘on’ in ‘ketlon’ a ‘Greekified’ ending, or does it come from the English usage...’put the ke…

Desmond Michael

Polishmanos = Policeman
Banga = Bank
Marketa = Market
Duspierithes = Dustmen

Also, perhaps no…

I Stellou

Some contributions from my parents… 😊

Πάσο - bus

Κκόμφμο - fabric softener (ANY fabric soften…

Tony Tasou

What a lovely project, to raise the profile of our Cypriot patois.

Some words that come to mind,…

Keko

Some of the many many grenlish words I hear from my grandparents:

Kkonteina (singular, feminine)…

Michele

I heard another one tonight from my auntie -emoovare ...
She moved!!

John

A very good friend of mine created the word antisiseptic. Pronounced the Greek way Andi...etc. she …

Cos

Hoping some of these qualify. Some of these relate to the fish and chip business my parents ran. Do…

Pav masthi

Πιζινες/ πιζινες Μάν ( obviously business/ business man. The way it’s used has cultural connotation…

Andy (via twitter)

To add a few from the beautiful game
Korna = Corner
Sentra = Cross i.e. to center the ball
Faool…

Polis Loizou-Denyer

From my great-aunt:

"Ta mbilozirka" - below-zero temperatures

"O hasbis mou" - my husband

Harry

Greek Cypriots in New Zealand are very very few. There are more Greeks in Wellington but all those…

Harry

Kavnas

Another interesting word coined by the Cypriots which my father was perplexed back in th…

Lazaro S.

Many words have been transformed and either used from English to Greek Cypriot or Greek Cypriot to …

Place names (via twitter)

- Fishbouree puk (from Pantelis S.)

- Palmers Greek (from Marina L.)

- Wooogree (from Christi…

Angela N.

I'm so glad you're doing this. It's something I wanted to do, but didn't where to start or have tim…

Michael

I am writing from Brisbane Australia. I enjoyed reading your site!. A word I heard in England many …

Sotiris

I have 2 brilliant words nobody knows about. They are probably worth about £1000 each. But you can …

Costas

My parents are from Bimingam and ran a fishadiko. They sold the usual stuff including carri, sausan…

Thekla

well its more the about the accent you can hear north london cypriot its very specific. I meet peop…

George D

Bomb-li-gao: this was what they used to call a pub (from 'public house'). One of the funniest Greng…

Yianna Hajiantonis

To postofi = post office

I oringa = orange drink. My parents didn't use this word but I've heard…

zoe

ti sidiroo = sitting room

to kichi

brettez = breakfast

sossinja = sausage

aiscri = ice…

Andy Winters

Yiayia lived in Manor Gardens (Fishbury park)in the 60's. Emigrated to London from Northern Cyprus …

Dionne Georgiou

Traffication-indicators!
I found out recently that the "verico" grapes that are so lovely and juic…

Λαζαρώ

Being born and raised in the uk, not london but manchester, i was good friends with georgiou s moth…

Sodoulla Georgiou

Coumpania- company
Mangerena - female managere
Choccolades - chocolates
Gayfren - girlfriend
…

Andrew Mouzouri

Polishmano - Policeman - my auntie (from Captain Tow) used to say it a lot - with a soft P, almost …

Andri Papapericleous

Tantziasmeno from tangy

George skordis

Rashion from rationing.word used by enclave persons in the maronite village of kormakitis for the w…

Anastasis Tavropoulos

Here's some Cypriot
Chiaera - Chair

Koutchises - to hit something (with a projectile) from Engl…

SpartanStathi

Unbisteftable - blend of unbelievable and 'abistefto'
Blondissa - blonde woman
Chigoui - as in 't…

Sophia (via twitter)

Η γιαγιά μου λέει ότι πρέπει να 'cancellari' το ραντεβού της!

Yiayia at ATM/cash point: "Θέλω να…

Pav Mastihi

Οι αηρισς / the Irish (this is interesting because presumably my parents generation didn't know any…

Pav Mastihi

Yεεrology

The Yεεrologist

The name of a travelling van selling authentic Greek gyro in market…

Irene E. (via twitter)

‘Bandoffs’ - from ‘παντόφλες’ 🥿 🤣

Andri P (via twitter)

'mpilozourka' = temperatures below zero

The word was mentioned to my sister when she first took …

Christala

Pyro'wex - Pyrex
As children my sisiter and I would laugh each time our mum use this word ’fefto …

Pav Mastihi

HALLOUMINATI THE BAND

The name of the band Halloumunati is a Grenglish name for a punk/ rebetiko…

Panais

A few words from the property world
Σεβεγιος (seveyios) derives from surveyor
Βακα (vaka) means v…

Sofia Koutlaki

This is a sample from US immigrants from my native island of Kassos, Dodecanese. Its dialect origin…

Kyri P.

i fenza (sing.) - fenzes (plural) = fences
🧱
Sharap = quiet (from shut up) e.g. 'kamnis sharap?…

Anna

These I heard today from my mother-in-law:

H κουμπανία - company
Ο μάνατζες - manager
O λάλος …