# πλεῖστος
## Ancient Greek
### Etymology

From the root of πολύς (polús, “much, many”) +‎ -ιστος (-istos, superlative suffix).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plêːs.tos/ → /ˈplis.tos/ → /ˈplis.tos/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /plêːs.tos/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈplis.tos/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈplis.tos/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈplis.tos/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈplis.tos/

### Adjective

πλεῖστος • (pleîstos)
* (of number, also of size, extent, strength, etc.) most, very much
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 15.616
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 16.377
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Odyssey 4.697
** 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Fr. 33.1
** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 478
** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Protagoras 342A
** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Hellenica 7.1.23
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 7.220
** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 5.126
** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.36
** (with the article, like οἱ πολλοί) the greatest number, the greatest part of..
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.90
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 718A
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.5
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 7.3
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.34
*** 423 BCE, Euripides, The Suppliants 408
* (adverbial, like μάλιστα) most
** 800 BCE – 600 BCE, Homer, Iliad 19.287
** 750 BCE – 650 BCE, Hesiod, Theogony 231
** 430 BCE – 354 BCE, Xenophon, Anabasis 2.2.12
** 409 BCE, Sophocles, Philoctetes 631
** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 743
** 438 BCE, Euripides, Alcestis 790
** 522 BCE – 443 BCE, Pindar, Pythian Ode 9.97
** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 720
** 390 BCE, Plato, Hippias Major 281B
** (with the article) for the most part
*** 422 BCE, Aristophanes, The Wasps 260
*** 366 BCE – 348 BCE, Plato, Critias 118C
*** 384 BCE – 322 BCE, Aristotle, History of Animals 563A.31
*** 129 CE – 216 CE, Galen, Collected Works 17.855
*** 460 BCE – 370 BCE, Hippocrates, Epidemics 6.1.10
* (with prepositions)
** (διά) furthest off
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.115
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 6.11
** (εἰς) most
*** 406 BCE, Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 739
** (ἐπί) over the greatest distance, to the greatest extent
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories 6.127
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.138
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.2
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 4.14
*** 428 BCE – 347 BCE, Plato, Laws 720D
** (κατά)
*** 200 BCE – 118 BCE, Polybius, The Histories 11.4.7
** (περί)

#### Related terms

* πᾰ́μπλειστος (pámpleistos, “in large quantity, number”)
* πλειστᾰ́κις (pleistákis, “mostly, very often”, adverb)
* πλείσταρχος (pleístarkhos, “holding widest sway”)
* πλειστᾰχόθεν (pleistakhóthen, “from most or many places”, adverb)
* πλειστήρης (pleistḗrēs, “manifold, all the whole”)
* πλειστηριᾰ́ζω (pleistēriázō, “raise the price”)
* πλειστηριᾰσμός (pleistēriasmós, “increase of price”) (Hellenistic Koine)
* πλειστηρῐ́ζομαι (pleistērízomai, “accuse as chief cause”)
* πλειστοβολέω (pleistoboléō, “throw highest at dice”)
* πλειστοβολίνδα f (pleistobolínda, “dice-playing”)
* πλειστόβολος (pleistóbolos, “throwing high”)
* πλειστοβόλος (pleistobólos, “throwing the most”)
* πλειστοδυναμέω (pleistodunaméō, “be dominant, prevail”)
* πλειστοφόρος (pleistophóros, “bearing most”)
* πλειστογονέω (pleistogonéō, “produce many offsprings”)
* πλειστολόγως (pleistológōs, “in various ways”, adverb)
* πλειστολόχειᾰ f (pleistolókheia, “small birthwort, Aristolochia Plistolochia”)
* πλειστόμβροτος (pleistómbrotos, “crowded with people”)
* πλειστονῑ́κης (pleistonī́kēs, “victor in many contests”)
* Πλειστός m (Pleistós, “the river Plistus”)
* πλειστοτόκος (pleistotókos, “producing most offspring”)

#### Descendants

* Greek: πλείστος (pleístos)

### References

* “πλεῖστος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “πλεῖστος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “πλεῖστος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* πλεῖστος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* πλεῖστος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* “πλεῖστος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G4118 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
* Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited. most idem, page 542.