Lingoflyτο ορφανό
- το ορφανόto orfanóorphan
“το ορφανό” (to orfanó) — orphan in Greek. Noun, level A1, topic — people and family. Neuter whether the child is a boy or a girl. Medicine took it for 'orphan diseases' — the ones nobody owns. In a live sentence: “Το ορφανό μεγάλωσε στη γιαγιά του” (to orfanó megálose sti yayiá tu) — The orphan grew up at grandma's. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters τ, ο, ο, ρ, φ, α, ν, ό.
In short
| Written in Greek | το ορφανό (to orfanó) |
| Read in Latin letters | to orfanó |
| Translation | orphan |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Neuter whether the child is a boy or a girl. Medicine took it for 'orphan diseases' — the ones nobody owns
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.
- Το ορφανό μεγάλωσε στη γιαγιά τουto orfanó megálose sti yayiá tuThe orphan grew up at grandma's
Nearby words: people and family
Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.
- φίλοςfílosfriendthe root behind 'philo-': philosophía is the love of wisdom. A female friend is fíli, friends are fíli
- οικογένειαikoyéniafamilythe initial oi reads ee, and gamma before e sounds almost like y: ee-ko-YE-nya. Literally 'household kin', from óikos, house
- μαμάmamámomstress at the end: ma-MA. The bookish 'mother' is mitéra — the root of 'metropolis'
- μπαμπάςbabásdadμπ at the start is b, in the middle m-b: ba-BAS. The bookish father is patéras
- παιδίpedíchildαι reads e: pe-DEE. The root of 'pedagogue' — literally the one who leads the child
- το άτομοto átomopersonin counting people: ya dío átoma — for two. The same word as atom
- ο άντραςo ándrasmanthe same word means 'husband'. The bookish form anír is the root of 'andro-'
- η γυναίκαi yinékawomanthe same word means 'wife'. The root of 'gynecology'
- ο νέοςo néosyoung manliterally 'young'. In the plural, i néi — the youth
- η κοπέλαi kopélagirlconversational and very frequent; the bookish nearí sounds official
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “people and family”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “orphan” in Greek?
Neuter whether the child is a boy or a girl. Medicine took it for 'orphan diseases' — the ones nobody owns
- How do you say “man” in Greek?
the same word means 'husband'. The bookish form anír is the root of 'andro-'
- How do you say “mom” in Greek?
stress at the end: ma-MA. The bookish 'mother' is mitéra — the root of 'metropolis'
- How do you say “girl” in Greek?
conversational and very frequent; the bookish nearí sounds official
- How do you say “person” in Greek?
in counting people: ya dío átoma — for two. The same word as atom
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 “orphan” in Greek?
«το ορφανό» (to orfanó), read “to orfanó”. In a live sentence: “Το ορφανό μεγάλωσε στη γιαγιά του” (to orfanó megálose sti yayiá tu) — The orphan grew up at grandma's. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “people and family”; written with the characters τ, ο, ο, ρ, φ, α, ν, ό.
How is “το ορφανό” (to orfanó) written in Latin letters?
to orfanó. 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?
Neuter whether the child is a boy or a girl. Medicine took it for 'orphan diseases' — the ones nobody owns. 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 this 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.