''Agios'' ( el, Άγιος), plural ''Agioi'' (), transcribes

masculine gender In linguistics, grammatical gender system is a specific form of noun class system, where nouns are assigned with gender categories that are often not related to their real-world qualities. In languages with grammatical gender, most or all nouns ...

Greek words meaning '

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

' or '

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

' (for example Agios Dimitrios, Agioi Anargyroi). It is frequently shortened in colloquial language to ''Ai'' (for example

Ai Stratis Agios Efstratios or Saint Eustratius ( el, Άγιος Ευστράτιος), colloquially Ai Stratis ( el, Άη Στράτης), anciently Halonnesus or Halonnesos ( grc, Ἁλόννησος), is a small Greece, Greek island in the northern Aegean ...

). In

polytonic Greek orthography has used a variety of diacritics starting in the Hellenistic period. The more complex polytonic orthography ( el, πολυτονικό σύστημα γραφής, translit=polytonikó sýstīma grafī́s), which includes fiv ...

script it is written ''Hagios'' () (for example

Hagios Demetrios The Church of Saint Demetrius, or Hagios Demetrios ( el, Άγιος Δημήτριος), is the main sanctuary dedicated to Saint Demetrius, the patron saint of Thessaloniki (in Central Macedonia, Greece), dating from a time when it was the se ...

). It is also transliterated as, inter alia, ''Haghios'', ''Ayios'', ''Aghios'' (for example Ayios Dhometios, Aghios Andreas Beach, respectively) in the singular form, and ''Haghioi'', ''Ayioi'', ''Aghioi'', ''Ayii'' in the plural (for example

Ayioi Omoloyites, Nicosia Ayioi Omoloyites is a Neighbourhood, Quarter, Mahalla or Parish of Nicosia, CyprusCoexistence in the Disappeared Mixed Neighbourhoods of Nicosia by Ahmet An (Paper read at the conference: Nicosia: The Last Divided Capital in Europe, organized by ...

, Aghioi Theodoroi, Ayii Trimithias respectively). The feminine is ''agia'', ''ayia'', ''aghia'', ''hagia'' or ''haghia'' (Greek: or in polytonic form ), for example ''Agia Varvara'' (

Saint Barbara Saint Barbara ( grc, Ἁγία Βαρβάρα; cop, Ϯⲁⲅⲓⲁ Ⲃⲁⲣⲃⲁⲣⲁ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an Early Christianity, early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr. Acc ...

See also