κομψός

Ancient Greek

Etymology

The old connection with Lithuanian švánkus (“decent, reasonable”), as if from *kuonkʷ-so-, is meaningless, since there is no suffix -so. This objection also excludes connection with κομέω (koméō, “to take care”) and κομμόομαι (kommóomai, “to adorn”). The word can hardly be Indo-European, so Pre-Greek origin is probable.

Pronunciation

Adjective

κομψός • (kompsós) m (feminine κομψή, neuter κομψόν); first/second declension

1. nice, refined, elegant, gentlemanly
2. smart, clever, ingenious, subtle
3. (in general) nice, good, pleasant

Inflection

Derived terms

Descendants

• Greek: κομψός (kompsós)

Further reading

• “κομψός”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “κομψός”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• κομψός in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• 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

Greek

Adjective

κομψός • (kompsós) m (feminine κομψή, neuter κομψό)

1. chic, smart, elegant, stylish

Declension