demotic
adjective
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You may recognize the root of demotic from words like democracy and demography. The source of these words is the Greek word dēmos, meaning "people." Demotic is often used of everyday forms of language (as opposed to literary or highbrow versions). It entered English in the early 1800s and originally designated a form of ancient Egyptian cursive script which by the 5th century BCE had come into use everywhere in Egypt for business and literary purposes (in contrast to the more complex, hieratic script retained by the clergy). Demotic has a newer specialized sense, as well, referring to a form of Modern Greek that is based on everyday speech and that since 1976 has been the official language of Greece.
Examples of demotic in a Sentence
Katie Hunt, CNN, 12 Oct. 2022
Alongside hieroglyphics, administrators and businessmen used the plain hieratic and demotic scripts to keep their secular world spinning.
—Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 18 Feb. 2022
That meant the demotic and hieroglyphic portions would be similar to the Greek text, and for the first time ever, scholars had a shot at understanding the mysterious symbols.
—Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 29 Dec. 2022
The first was written in hieroglyphs and the second in the demotic script, a cursive form of ancient Egyptian similar in style to written Arabic.
—Benjamin Plackett, Discover Magazine, 28 Nov. 2022
Carved on the dark, granite-like stone were indecipherable hieroglyphics, the simplified Egyptian demotic script and ancient Greek.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 15 Oct. 2022
In England, Champollion's main rival in the race to decode the slab focused his efforts on the demotic section of the stone.
—Katie Hunt, CNN, 12 Oct. 2022
In truth, most of his pet objects look nostalgic only from our present vantage; in their day, his cheeseburgers and ice-cream desserts were demotic, slangy—a provocation.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 July 2022
What does her embrace of the Republican base's most demotic superstitions tell us about the character of the contemporary right — and the character of contemporary American politics more generally?
—Damon Linker, The Week, 29 Mar. 2022
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'demotic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
borrowed from Greek dēmotikós "of the people, common, ordinary, of the cursive Egyptian script," from dēmótēs "one of the people, commoner" (from dêmos "people" + -tēs, suffix of persons) + -ikos -ic entry 1 — more at demo-
1822, in the meaning defined at sense 1
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Cite this Entry
“Demotic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/demotic. Accessed 24 Sep. 2023.
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