ἁπλόος

• ἁπλοῦς (haploûs) — Attic, contracted
• ἁπλός (haplós) — Koine

From ἁ- (ha-, “one, same”) +‎ -πλόος (-plóos, “-fold”). Compare δῐπλόος (dĭplóos, “double”), as well as Latin simplex.^[1]

ᾰ̔πλόος • (hăplóos) m (feminine ᾰ̔πλόη, neuter ᾰ̔πλόον); first/second declension

1. single; onefold
   • 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 3.18.4:

     ἀφικνοῦνται καὶ περιτειχίζουσι Μυτιλήνην ἐν κύκλῳ ἁπλῷ τείχει

     aphiknoûntai kaì periteikhízousi Mutilḗnēn en kúklōi haplôi teíkhei

     and arriving at Mitylene built a single wall all round it

2. simple
   • 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Nemean Ode 8.36:

     ἀλλὰ κελεύθοις ἁπλόαις ζωᾶς ἐφαπτοίμαν, θανὼν ὡς παισὶ κλέος μὴ τὸ δύσφαμον προσάψω

     allà keleúthois haplóais zōâs ephaptoíman, thanṑn hōs paisì kléos mḕ tò dúsphamon prosápsō

     May I rather stick to the simple paths of life, so that when I die I will not fasten a bad name to my children.

   • 412 BCE, Euripides, Helen 979:

     κἀκεῖνον ἢ ’μὲ δεῖ θανεῖν: ἁπλοῦς λόγος

     kakeînon ḕ ’mè deî thaneîn: haploûs lógos

     He or I must die; the matter is simple.

3. honest, candid
   • 380 BCE, Plato, The Republic 361b:

     ἄνδρα ἁπλοῦν καὶ γενναῖον, κατ’ Αἰσχύλον οὐ δοκεῖν ἀλλ’ εἶναι ἀγαθὸν ἐθέλοντα

     ándra haploûn kaì gennaîon, kat’ Aiskhúlon ou dokeîn all’ eînai agathòn ethélonta

     an honest and noble man who, in the phrase of Aeschylus, does not wish to seem, but be, good.

4. simple-minded
   • 436 BCE – 338 BCE, Isocrates, To Nicocles 46:

     φθονοῦσι μὲν τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσιν, ἁπλοῦς δ’ ἡγοῦνται τοὺς νοῦν οὐκ ἔχοντας

     phthonoûsi mèn toîs eû phronoûsin, haploûs d’ hēgoûntai toùs noûn ouk ékhontas

     They look upon men of wisdom with suspicion, while they regard men of no understanding as simple-minded.

5. (metallogy) unalloyed, pure

• English: haplo-
• Greek: απλός (aplós)

• “ἁπλόος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ἁπλόος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ἁπλόος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• ἁπλόος in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• “ἁπλόος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter