Ionic - Definition and Overview

The words Ionian and Ionic have several meanings.

From Greece (Ionic/Ionian)

• An Ionian is a member of one of the four great divisions of the ancient Greek people.

• Ionia is an ancient region in western Anatolia, in which the Ionian settlers established some colonies.

• In the ancient Greek language, an Ionic dialect is any of several related dialects.

• The Ionian Islands are off the western coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea.

• In architecture, the Ionic order is one of the orders of classical architecture.

• In Greek and Latin prosody, an Ionic foot is a foot that consists of two long syllables followed by two short (major or greater ionic) or two short followed by two long (minor or smaller ionic). An Ionic metre is a metre that consists of Ionic feet.

• The Ionic numeral system is a certain numeral system with Greek numerals.

• In ancient Greek philosophy, the Ionic school was founded by Thales of Miletus in Ionia.

• In typography, Ionic type is a typeface distinguished by prominent serifs and a high degree of legibility.

Physics and chemistry (ionic)

• An ion is an atom or group of atoms with a net electric charge.

• An ionic bond is a chemical bond in which electrostatic attraction links oppositely charged ions in a chemical compound.