# πλῆθος
## Ancient Greek
### Alternative forms

* πληθῡ́ς (plēthū́s) — Ionic, Epic
* πλᾶθος (plâthos) — Tragic, pseudo-Doric
* πλεῖθος (pleîthos) — Boeotian

### Etymology

From πλήθω (plḗthō, “to fill”), the intransitive counterpart of πίμπλημι (pímplēmi).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plɛ̂ː.tʰos/ → /ˈpli.θos/ → /ˈpli.θos/
* (5th BCE Attic) IPA: /plɛ̂ː.tʰos/
* (1st CE Egyptian) IPA: /ˈple̝.tʰos/
* (4th CE Koine) IPA: /ˈpli.θos/
* (10th CE Byzantine) IPA: /ˈpli.θos/
* (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA: /ˈpli.θos/

### Noun

πλῆθος • (plêthos) n (genitive πλήθεος or πλήθους); third declension (Attic, Doric, Arcadocypriot)
* a large number of things, a great number
* majority, main portion
* something of large size or magnitude
* specifically: a large group of people: crowd, multitude, throng, mob
* populace, people, general public
* magnitude, size, extent
** amount, quantity
*** 460 BCE – 420 BCE, Herodotus, Histories :ἐὸν ὀρέων καὶ πλήθεϊ μέγιστον καὶ μεγάθεϊ ὑψηλότατον.eòn oréōn kaì plḗtheï mégiston kaì megátheï hupsēlótaton.being greatest in number and loftiest in height of mountains
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, 3 70.5:πρὸς τὰ ἱερὰ ἱκετῶν καθεζομένων διὰ πλῆθος τῆς ζημίας, ὅπως ταξάμενοι ἀποδῶσινpròs tà hierà hiketôn kathezoménōn dià plêthos tês zēmías, hópōs taxámenoi apodôsin[they] sat as suppliants in the temple because of the quantity of the fine, [praying] that they could pay it in installments
** (of time) length
*** 460 BCE – 395 BCE, Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.1.3:τὰ γὰρ πρὸ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἔτι παλαίτερα σαφῶς μὲν εὑρεῖν διὰ χρόνου πλῆθος ἀδύνατα ἦνtà gàr prò autôn kaì tà éti palaítera saphôs mèn heureîn dià khrónou plêthos adúnata ênthe events before them and the events from a longer time ago were impossible to clearly determine because of the length of time

#### Usage notes

Several of the senses of this noun mirror those of the adjective πολύς (polús, “much, many”).

#### Descendants

* Greek: πλήθος (plíthos)

### References

* “πλῆθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “πλῆθος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
* “πλῆθος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
* πλῆθος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
* Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
* πλῆθος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
* “πλῆθος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
* G4128 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. abundance idem, page 4.accumulation idem, page 7.amount idem, page 28.assortment idem, page 47.batch idem, page 65.bulk idem, page 103.common idem, page 148.commons idem, page 149.copiousness idem, page 173.crowd idem, page 186.degree idem, page 206.dimension idem, page 225.extent idem, page 296.exuberance idem, page 298.fulness idem, page 349.greatness idem, page 372.heap idem, page 391.herd idem, page 397.immensity idem, page 418.largeness idem, page 477.lavishness idem, page 479.length idem, page 485.magnitude idem, page 507.mass idem, page 516.mob idem, page 537.multiplicity idem, page 546.multitude idem, page 546.number idem, page 563.people idem, page 604.plenty idem, page 620.populace idem, page 626.population idem, page 626.press idem, page 637.profuseness idem, page 653.proletariat idem, page 653.quantity idem, page 663.rabble idem, page 667.size idem, page 780.space idem, page 797.store idem, page 820.strength idem, page 824.sum idem, page 837.tale idem, page 854.throng idem, page 870.vastness idem, page 945.vulgar idem, page 958.wealth idem, page 970.
* “πλῆθος”, in ΛΟΓΕΙΟΝ [Logeion] (in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Chinese), University of Chicago, 2011