Greek Alphabet
Greek Vocabulary
Active: an initiated member of a fraternity or sorority.
Alumnus: An initiated member of a Fraternity or Sorority who is no longer in college.
Bid: An invitation to become a member of a fraternity or sorority.
Brother: A term used by members of a fraternity when referring to one another.
Chapter: a term used to describe the collegiate group of a fraternity and sorority.
Dry Recruitment: The prohibition of alcohol at any chapter event where rushees are or may potentially be present
Formal Recruitment: The predetermined time span for recruitment in which the majority of rush occurs each year.
Fraternity: A Greek-lettered fellowship of men fostering the common ideals of brotherhood.
Greek: a member of a fraternity or sorority
IFC: The governing body of local chapters from the National Interfraternity Conference member fraternities.
Informal Recruitment: A method by which fraternities individually determine when they will extend bids to potential members. Unlike formal recruitment, fraternities can extend a bid at any time during the year with informal recruitment.
Initiation: a traditional, secret ritual which brings an individual into full membership.
Intake: the process by which prospective members join an NPHC or UGC organization
Legacy: a potential/new member whose grandparent, parent, brother or sister is a member of a Fraternity/Sorority.
Line Brother/Sister: a member that was inducted into the fraternity/sorority together.
MGC: the local governing body of the local chapters in the Multicultural Greek Council.
Nationals/Headquarters: The governing body and staff of each national fraternity or sorority.
Neophyte: Newest members of a fraternity or sorority
New (or Associate) Member: a person who has accepted a bid from a fraternity or sorority
NPHC: The governing body of the local chapters of the National Pan-Hellenic Council member organizations.
Open House: A free time when a potential member can visit any fraternity house.
PAN: The governing body of the local chapters of the Panhellenic Council member organizations.
Philanthropy: a cause devoted to raising money/awareness for national charities/organization that has a personal meaning to the organization itself.
Pledge: a person who has accepted a bid from a fraternity or sorority or who is attempting membership into a fraternal organization.
Pledge Class: All potential members of a chapter who accept their bids to join the fraternity/sorority in the same semester.
PNM (Potential New Member): a person who has shown interest but not yet been offered or accepted a bid into a fraternity/sorority.
Prophyte: An older brother or sister in a fraternity or sorority who generally took part in the initiation of the organization's new members.
Recruitment Counselor/ Pi Chi: an upper-class member of a fraternity or sorority, chosen and trained to assist PNMs with recruitment
Ritual: secret and inspirational ceremonies that are used to inspire and educated members about the importance of the organization
Recruitment: the time when fraternities and sororities sponsor activities seeking PNMs and PNMs seek fraternal membership
Sister: a term used by members of a sorority when referring to one another
Sorority: A Greek-lettered fellowship of woman fostering the common ideals of sisterhood.
Unaffilitiated: a student not in a fraternity or sorority