The definition of Meraki for The Meraki Dignity Project was researched and written by Konstantina Lekka, a lifelong educator and scholar of classical Greek literature from Vlahokerasia, Arcadia. Her words remind us that Meraki lives where creativity, soul, and love meet, and dignity takes gentle shape. She continues to share her wisdom through her writing and lectures that honor Greece’s enduring cultural heritage. The following reflects a summary of her translation from Greek to English.

Meraki is a uniquely Greek word that resists simple translation. At its heart, it means to do something with deep passion, devotion, and soul: to pour your very being into what you create or undertake. It conveys both ardent desire and spiritual intensity, an eagerness that binds effort with love.

The word’s roots trace back to ancient Greek, connected to concepts such as will, zeal, eagerness, care, goodness, and diligence. Unlike mere effort, meraki carries a sense of wholeheartedness. It is the flame that fuels someone to go beyond duty, to refine even the smallest details, and to complete something with joy and pride.

A meraklís is a person who delights in doing things well; someone who finds fulfillment in quality, elegance, and attentiveness. The opposite would be carelessness or indifference. Closely related is meraklídikos, meaning authentic, wholehearted, and generous in spirit.

Throughout Greek history and language, this idea has endured. In Homer and other classical texts, zeal and eagerness appear as essential forces of human striving. Later philosophers spoke of passion and desire as necessary for both virtue and knowledge.

Meraki stands alongside other untranslatable Greek words like philotimo (honor, dignity, love of doing what is right). Together, they describe a worldview in which one’s inner fire matters as much as outward achievement.

To work with meraki is to infuse action with meaning. It is the farmer tending the soil with care, the artist shaping stone with love, the cook seasoning food with devotion. It is the will (boúlesis), the inner spirit (thymos), and the contest (agón), yet more than all of these, it is the spark that makes human effort beautiful.

by The Meraki Dignity Project