πλείων

See also: πλειών

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• πλέων (pléōn)

Etymology

From Proto-Hellenic *pleíhōn, from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁is-ō.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /plěː.ɔːn/ → /ˈpli.on/ → /ˈpli.on/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /plěː.ɔːn/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpli.on/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpli.on/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpli.on/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpli.on/

Adjective

πλείων • (pleíōn) m or f (neuter πλεῖον); third declension

1. more, comparative degree of πολύς (polús)
   • 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Works and Days 378
   1. (in the plural, with the definite article) the greater number, the mass or crowd
      • 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 5.673
2. (in neuter)
   1. (as a noun) more
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 2.19
   2. (as an adverb) more, rather
      • 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 8.100
      1. (with numerals) more
         • 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Cyropaedia 2.1,6
      2. (comedy) πλεῖν ἢ μαίνομαι (pleîn ḕ maínomai, “more than to madness”)
         • 405 BCE, Aristophanes, The Frogs 103,751
      3. as an adverb with another comparative
      4. the plural πλείω is also used like πλέον

Usage notes

Homer and Hesiod use πλείων (pleíōn) or πλέων (pléōn) as verse requires.

Declension

Third declension of πλείων; πλεῖον (Attic)

Number		Singular			Dual			Plural
Case/Gender		Masculine / Feminine	Neuter		Masculine / Feminine	Neuter		Masculine / Feminine	Neuter
Nominative		πλείων pleíōn	πλεῖον pleîon		πλείονε pleíone	πλείονε pleíone		πλείονες / πλείους pleíones / pleíous	πλείονᾰ / πλείω pleíonă / pleíō
Genitive		πλείονος pleíonos	πλείονος pleíonos		πλειόνοιν pleiónoin	πλειόνοιν pleiónoin		πλειόνων pleiónōn	πλειόνων pleiónōn
Dative		πλείονῐ pleíonĭ	πλείονῐ pleíonĭ		πλειόνοιν pleiónoin	πλειόνοιν pleiónoin		πλείοσῐ / πλείοσῐν pleíosĭ(n)	πλείοσῐ / πλείοσῐν pleíosĭ(n)
Accusative		πλείονᾰ / πλείω pleíonă / pleíō	πλεῖον pleîon		πλείονε pleíone	πλείονε pleíone		πλείονᾰς / πλείους pleíonăs / pleíous	πλείονᾰ / πλείω pleíonă / pleíō
Vocative		πλεῖον pleîon	πλεῖον pleîon		πλείονε pleíone	πλείονε pleíone		πλείονες / πλείους pleíones / pleíous	πλείονᾰ / πλείω pleíonă / pleíō
Derived forms		Adverb			Comparative			Superlative
		πλεῖον pleîon			—			—
Notes:		This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension. Ionic and Doric have the following contracted forms: πλεῦν, πλεῦνος, πλεῦνες. Attic has πλεῖν.

Synonyms

• (more): πλεῖστος (pleîstos)
• (crowd): οἱ πολλοί (hoi polloí)

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “more (noun)”): ἔλαττον (élatton)

References

• “πλείων”, in Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πλείων”, in Liddell & Scott (1889), An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πλείων”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πλείων in Bailly, Anatole (1935), Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• πλείων in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• G4119 in Strong, James (1979), Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910), English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • further idem, page 350.
  • more idem, page 541.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1206