ὑποκρίνομαι

Ancient Greek

Etymology

Mediopassive of ῠ̔ποκρῑ́νω (hŭpokrī́nō), from ῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-, under) +‎ κρῑ́νω (krī́nō, to separate, judge, decide).

Pronunciation

 

Verb

ῠ̔ποκρῑ́νομαι • (hŭpokrī́nomai)

  1. to answer
  2. to interpret
  3. (Attic) to dialogue, to answer on the stage; to play a part, be an actor
    1. (figurative) to feign, to dissemble

Usage notes

The sense changed from "separate gradually" to "answer" to "answer a fellow actor on stage" to "play a part".[1]

In the sense of "answer", the usual word in Attic was ᾰ̓ποκρῑ́νομαι (ăpokrī́nomai).

Inflection

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “hypocrisy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.