Demotic

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /dɪ.ˈmÉ’.tɪk/
• US IPA: /dɪ.mÉ‘.tɪk/

Origin

First attested in 1822, from Ancient Greek δημοτικός (demotikos, "common"), from δημότης (demotes, "commoner"), from δῆμος (demos, "the common people").

Full definition of demotic

Adjective

1. Of or for the common people.
• 1 March 2014, Rupert Christiansen, English translations rarely sing, Anything grandiose or historically based tends to sound flat and banal when it reaches English, partly because translators get stuck between contradictory imperatives: juggling fidelity to the original sense with what is vocally viable, they tend to resort to a genteel fustian which lacks either poetic resonance or demotic realism, adding to a sense of artificiality rather than enhancing credibility.
2. Of, relating to, or written in the vulgar form of ancient Egyptian hieratic writing.demotic script is a simplified, cursive form of hieroglyphs used in ancient Egypt.
3. Of, relating to, or written in the form of modern vernacular Greek.demotic Greek

Synonyms

• (of the vulgar form of hieratic writing) enchorial

Noun

1. (linguistics) Language as spoken or written by the common people.
• 2010, John C. Wells, accents mapNote the intrusion into British demotic (“me and Cheryl were having”) of the valley-girl quotative be, like.

Derived terms

• demotist