What the Greek Evil Eye (Mati) Has to Do With the Way Greeks Speak

Search for the Greek evil eye and you get a wall of jewellery: blue glass charms, bracelets, and keyrings. The mati meaning gets flattened into a product description as a piece of jewellery that “protects against negative energy”. Most articles stop there. The mati’s significance, particularly in the Greek language, is something that’s commonly overlooked. Interestingly, it’s directly referenced in how people react to good news, how they hand out compliments. Even gestures like spitting at good news has it’s roots in the Greek evil eye.

This is the everyday side of the μάτι (mati) — the eye, and by extension the evil eye.

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μάτι (mati): the eye, and the evil eye

μάτι (mati) literally means “eye”. The same word does double duty as the name for the evil eye — the idea that a look, especially an envious or admiring one, can bring someone bad luck, headaches, or a vague run of misfortune.

When Greeks want to be clear they mean the harmful version, they say κακό μάτι (kako mati) — “bad eye”. You’ll also hear το μάτι on its own, with the meaning obvious from context. The belief isn’t fringe. Plenty of otherwise sceptical Greeks who’d never call themselves superstitious still half-believe in the μάτι, the way people elsewhere touch wood. It runs across generations and across the religious-secular divide.

The blue glass charm you’ve seen, the one shaped like an eye, is also called a μάτι. You’ll often see it pinned to a baby’s vest, hung in a car, or worn on a wrist, the μάτι is meant to absorb or deflect the bad look before it lands. Children are thought to be the most vulnerable, which is why you’ll see the charm on prams and cots more than anywhere else.

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How you “catch” it: ματιάζω and ματιασμένος

Here’s where it becomes a grammar point rather than a trinket. There’s a verb for giving someone the evil eye: ματιάζω (matiazo). It works like a normal Type A verb.

You’ll most often meet it in a few fixed forms. A compliment followed by the worry that you’ve caused harm:

• να μη σε ματιάσω — “may I not give you the evil eye”

Someone explaining their bad day:

• με μάτιασαν — “they gave me the evil eye” (literally “they eyed me”)

And the adjective for the person on the receiving end: ματιασμένος (matiasmenos) — “struck by the evil eye”. A mother might say her toddler is ματιασμένος when he’s suddenly fractious and feverish for no reason she can name. An adult might say it about themselves after a thumping headache that came out of nowhere.

Note the agreement, because it’s a useful one to practise. A man is ματιασμένος, a woman is ματιασμένη, a thing or a child (neuter) is ματιασμένο. If you’ve worked through how Greek nouns and adjectives are masculine, feminine or neuter, this is the same pattern doing real cultural work.

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ξεμάτιασμα: the ritual that removes it

If you can catch the μάτι, there has to be a way to get rid of it. The removal is called ξεμάτιασμα (xematiasma). The prefix ξε- (xe-) is the same “un-” that turns lots of Greek verbs into their reverse, so ξεματιάζω (xematiazo) is “to un-eye someone”, to lift the curse.

The classic method: someone who knows the prayer (often a grandmother, and the prayer is traditionally passed down, frequently on a specific day) drips olive oil into a glass or bowl of water while whispering it. If the oil scatters or sinks, the μάτι is confirmed; if it beads on the surface, you’re clear.

You don’t need to believe any of this to find it worth knowing. You might find that a Greek host offers to do a ξεμάτιασμα because you’ve complained of a headache.

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“Why did a Greek just spit at me?” — φτου φτου φτου

This is the one that catches visitors off guard. You say something nice, like what a gorgeous baby, what a beautiful house, pr congratulations on the new job, and the person you’re talking to makes a sharp “φτου φτου φτου” (ftou ftou ftou) sound, sometimes with a tiny mock-spit into the air or over their own shoulder.

φτου (ftou) is the sound of spitting. The phrase will usually recite three back to back. There is feat that praise attracts the μάτι, and a quick counter to it is to spit. It’s a way of saying “don’t let my own admiration jinx this”. You’ll see parents do it about their own children: they boast a little, then immediately φτου φτου φτου to undo any harm the boast might have invited.

Older Greeks may do it openly, while younger ones often just say the word quietly, or murmur “φτου να μη βασκαθεί”/“spit, so it won’t be cursed” (βασκαίνω is a more formal verb for the same idea). Either way, the moment you understand it, the gesture stops being odd and starts being a small, almost affectionate reflex. It belongs to the same family of loud, untranslatable everyday sounds as the Greek exclamations έλα, ρε, and πω πω, words whose meaning comes from tone rather than a dictionary.

A related habit: when someone admires a child, a Greek might gently say “φτου σου” or touch the child, partly to break the spell of the look. Don’t be surprised if a compliment you give is met with a touch and a sound rather than a thank you.

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The protective phrases you’ll actually hear

Beyond the spit, a handful of set phrases do the same protective job in words. Worth recognising:

• να μη σε ματιάσω — “may I not give you the evil eye”, tacked onto a compliment.
• φτου φτου φτου / φτου να μη βασκαθεί — the spoken spit, warding off harm after praise.
• ό,τι κι αν πω, να μη βασκαθεί — “whatever I say, may it not be jinxed”, a fuller version of the same instinct.
• σκόρδο! — “garlic!” Some Greeks say the word, or mime it, as a half-joking charm against the eye, the way the plant itself is thought to protect.

None of these need a literal belief behind them. Plenty of Greeks say them the way an English speaker says “touch wood” — out of habit, half-laughing, but still saying it. That’s exactly why they’re useful to a learner. They’re not in the textbook, but they’re in the conversation.

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Test yourself

The gap between recognising these on a page and catching them in a real, fast conversation is real. Knowing that φτου φτου φτου follows a compliment is one thing; hearing it land in the middle of a sentence about your niece and reacting naturally is another. The speaking exercises on Speak Greek drop you into situations where this language actually comes up — someone praising your family, a friend blaming a bad week on the μάτι — and give you feedback on how you respond, so the first time it happens for real it feels familiar.

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FAQ

What does mati mean in Greek?

μάτι (mati) means “eye”. The same word names the evil eye — the belief that an envious or admiring look can bring bad luck. When Greeks want to be specific about the harmful sense, they say κακό μάτι (kako mati), “bad eye”.

Why do Greeks spit (ftou ftou ftou) after a compliment?

Because praise is thought to attract the evil eye. The spitting sound, φτου φτου φτου, is a quick protective counter-move. It isn’t aimed at you and it isn’t rude — it’s the speaker warding off any harm their own admiration might invite.

What is xematiasma?

ξεμάτιασμα (xematiasma) is the ritual for removing the evil eye. Someone who knows the traditional prayer drips olive oil into water while reciting it; how the oil behaves tells them whether the μάτι is present. It’s offered as a kindness, usually by an older relative.

What does matiasmenos mean?

ματιασμένος (matiasmenos) means “struck by the evil eye” — said of someone with a sudden headache, tiredness, or run of bad luck blamed on the μάτι. It changes with gender: ματιασμένος (masculine), ματιασμένη (feminine), ματιασμένο (neuter).

Do Greeks really believe in the evil eye?

It varies. Some take it seriously; many treat it the way English speakers treat “touch wood” — half-joking but still doing it. Either way the language is alive and everyday, which is why it’s worth recognising even if you don’t share the belief.

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References

• Evil eye — Wikipedia. Modern Greek terms κακό μάτι / μάτι, the ancient origins (Plutarch and the idea of the eye emitting “deadly rays”), the olive-oil-in-water test, the spitting formula (“I spit so that I won’t give you the evil eye”), and prayers against βασκανία in Greek Orthodox service books.
• Kako mati (Greece) — Global Informality Project (UCL). Definition of the belief, the Church term vaskania from the verb vaskaino (“to look at someone with envy”), babies and small children being especially susceptible, and the xematiasma removal ritual (dropping oil from the icon-lamp into water while reciting an Orthodox prayer).
• ματιάζω — Wiktionary. Verb meaning “to give / put the evil eye”, the participle ματιασμένος, the noun μάτιασμα, and the related verb ξεματιάζω.
• ξε- — Wiktionary. The prefix meaning “un-, de-”, expressing the opposite, cancellation, or removal of a condition.
• Cure the Evil Eye With a Ksematiasma App on Your Phone! — Greek Reporter. The oil-water-and-prayer ritual, the prayer being passed down within families, and uncontrollable yawning as the sign the eye is being drawn out.
• The Best Greek Superstitions: Read for Good Luck! — Greek City Times. Garlic (σκόρδο) as protection against the eye, including saying the word after a compliment.