greeking

Syllables: greek·ing/ˈɡɹiːkɪŋ/

greeking noun: nonsense text or graphics inserted into a document as a placeholder to create a dummy layout, or to demonstrate a type font; the practice of using such placeholder text or graphics. Also the present participle and gerund of greek.

Image: Smuconlaw ; uploaded by Jacklee, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

greeking (uncountable)

Nonsense text or graphics inserted into a document as a placeholder to create a dummy layout, or to demonstrate a type font; the practice of using such placeholder text or graphics.
- If text gets smaller than this value, [Adobe] Illustrator shows the text blocks as gray bars, an operation called greeking. Both type size and view size figure into the equation, so that 6-point type greeks at 100-percent view size and 12-point type greeks at 50 percent. Greeking speeds the screen...2002, Deke McClelland, “The Interface”, in Real World Adobe Illustrator 10, Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press, →ISBN, pages 46–47
- Designers have long worked with a concept known as greeking. Greeking is a method of drawing gray bars to represent blocks of text rather than taking the time to image them all on the screen. […] Unless you really want to see every character of every word at every size, there's hardly any reason to...2007, David Blatner, Gene Gable, Real World QuarkXPress 7, Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press, →ISBN

Verb capitalized: Greeking

Greeking

(gerund, participle, present) present participle and gerund of Greek

Also used as

greeking is also the present participle and gerund of greek.

Examples of greeking in a sentence

If text gets smaller than this value, [Adobe] Illustrator shows the text blocks as gray bars, an operation called greeking.2002, Deke McClelland, “The Interface”, in Real World Adobe Illustrator 10, Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press, →ISBN, pages 46–47:
Designers have long worked with a concept known as greeking.2007, David Blatner, Gene Gable, Real World QuarkXPress 7, Berkeley, Calif.: Peachpit Press, →ISBN:
The use of greeking (also called dummy text) allows page designers to place text on a page without the actual content acting as a distraction.2007, Susan E. L. Lake, Karen Bean, “Using Other Design Tools”, in The Business of Technology: Digital Desktop Publishing, Mason, Oh....

Origin of greeking

From greek + -ing.

Phrases with greeking

greeking it

Words that rhyme with greeking

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about greeking

What does greeking mean?: Greeking means nonsense text or graphics inserted into a document as a placeholder to create a dummy layout, or to demonstrate a type font; the practice of using such placeholder text or graphics.
How do you use greeking in a sentence?: If text gets smaller than this value, [Adobe] Illustrator shows the text blocks as gray bars, an operation called greeking.
What part of speech is greeking?: Greeking can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce greeking?: Greeking is pronounced /ˈɡɹiːkɪŋ/ (UK).

Words near greeking in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: greeking (page history and authors); Greeking (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-greeking.opus.

Cite this entry: “greeking.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/greeking. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.