Dialektika - What is the Greek word Elon Musk tweeted?

Elon Musk used a Greek word in one of his Tweets.

The word was "διαλεκτική (dialektika)" a word with a complex meaning that cannot easily be translated with just one word in other languages, as is often the case with Greek words.

The Tweet went viral and drew a lot of comments from readers, one being from an American who questioned why Musk chose a "dead language" to express himself.

I felt compelled to respond to this commenter who turned out to have had some "basic" education which included "arithmetic", "Mathematics", "physics", "biology", "chemistry" "history" and "geography". He was also familiar with words like "phychology", "logic", "phenomenon", "symphony", "architecture", "theatre" and countless more Greek words that are used every day in so many so called modern languages.

In fact, if the Greek words "borrowed" by other languages were to be removed from our everyday vocabulary, a lot of people would be left "speechless".

Greek as a language is far from dead. You'd be surprised by how much Greek you speak every day without being aware of it.

(What are dialectics?

The word dialectic comes from the Greek word διαλεγομαι, which means to hold a debate.

Dialectic, also called dialectics or the dialectical method, was originally a form of logical argumentation. Now it is also a philosophical concept of evolution applied to diverse fields including thought, nature, economics and history.)