demotic

adjective

1. of or relating to the ordinary, everyday, current form of a language; vernacular: a poet with a keen ear for demotic rhythms.
2. of or relating to the common people; popular.
3. of, relating to, or noting the simplified form of hieratic writing used in ancient Egypt between 700 b.c. and a.d. 500.

noun

4. demotic script.
5. (initial capital letter) Also called Romaic. the Modern Greek vernacular (distinguished from Katharevusa).

adjective

1. of or relating to the common people; popular
2. of or relating to a simplified form of hieroglyphics used in ancient Egypt by the ordinary literate class outside the priesthoodCompare hieratic

noun

3. the demotic script of ancient Egypt

noun

1. the spoken form of Modern Greek, now increasingly used in literatureCompare Katharevusa

adjective

2. denoting or relating to this

adj.

1822, from Greek demotikos “of or for the common people, in common use,” from demos “common people,” originally “district,” from PIE *da-mo- “division,” from root *da- “to divide” (see tide). In contrast to hieratic. Originally of the simpler of two forms of ancient Egyptian writing; broader sense is from 1831; used of Greek since 1927.