Συγγνώμη
“Συγγνώμη” (signómi) — excuse me in Greek. Interjection, level A0. from syn- 'together' and gnómi 'mind': literally 'shared thinking', hence both forgiveness and politeness. The first gamma is swallowed: si-GHNO-mi. The same word gets a stranger's attention in the street. In a live sentence: “Συγγνώμη, δεν σας άκουσα” — Excuse me, I did not hear you. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters Σ, υ, γ, γ, ν, μ, η. A word from the everyday Greek course, level A0.
In short
| Written in Greek | Συγγνώμη |
| Read in Latin letters | signómi |
| Translation | excuse me |
| Part of speech | interjection |
| Level | A0 |
- Συγγνώμηsignómiexcuse me
Why it looks that way
from syn- 'together' and gnómi 'mind': literally 'shared thinking', hence both forgiveness and politeness. The first gamma is swallowed: si-GHNO-mi. The same word gets a stranger's attention in the street
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Συγγνώμη, δεν σας άκουσαsignómi, den sas ákusaExcuse me, I did not hear you
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “excuse me” in Greek?
«Συγγνώμη», read “signómi”. In a live sentence: “Συγγνώμη, δεν σας άκουσα” — Excuse me, I did not hear you. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Interjection, level A0; written with the characters Σ, υ, γ, γ, ν, μ, η.
How is “Συγγνώμη” written in Latin letters?
signómi. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
from syn- 'together' and gnómi 'mind': literally 'shared thinking', hence both forgiveness and politeness. The first gamma is swallowed: si-GHNO-mi. The same word gets a stranger's attention in the street. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.