Skepsis

Y'all already speak Greek. Skepsis is a free, open-source game that teaches the Greek roots, myths and big ideas hiding in everyday English, in 3-minute lessons. Every word comes with a Texas example.

Play: https://skepsis-greek.vercel.app · Every word: https://skepsis-greek.vercel.app/words · Learn from your AI agent: MCP server

Skepsis (σκέψις) is Greek for "looking closely". It's where skeptic comes from.

What's inside

• 11 units, 33 lessons, 93 Greek roots and ideas plus a 34-word "Is it Greek?" game.

  • Everyday roots: tele, phon, graph, photo, auto.

  • Size and number: mega, micro, poly, mono.

  • Space and oil: astronaut, petroleum, helium.

  • Medicine: cardio, derm, -itis.

  • Manias and thieves: megalomania, kleptomania, pyrotechnics.

  • Power and people: democracy, -cracy, polis, "Metroplex".

  • Myths: Nike, Achilles' heel, Trojan horse, mentor.

  • Persuasion: ethos, pathos, logos, kairos, hubris.

  • Stoic ideas: dichotomy of control, aretē, eudaimonia.

  • Startup Greek: strategy, crisis, protocol.

  • Is it Greek? Texas Edition: rodeo, Alamo and mustang are Spanish; squirrel, butter and oyster are secretly Greek.

• Six kinds of questions: guess first, multiple choice, decode a word you've never seen, build a word from its pieces, match pairs, and Greek-or-not.

• Game parts: XP, a daily goal, streaks (weekends never break them, plus freezes), badges, and Rodeo, a speed round with 8 seconds per question where one miss bucks you off.

• Teach mode:

  • Every item has a one-breath explanation and a Copy-for-Slack button.

  • Huddle turns a unit into big slides for a standup.

• Optional team board: a weekly leaderboard with a shared team goal, when the app is hosted as a Claude Artifact.

• MCP server: Claude, Cursor or any MCP agent can tutor you with the same lessons and spaced review.

Related MCP server: EduSmart AI Tutor MCP Server

How it teaches

The design follows learning research. Sources, and where the evidence is weak, are in RESEARCH.md.

• Guess first. Each lesson opens on a word you haven't learned. Guessing before you're told helps it stick.

• Word families, then transfer. You learn a root with two example words, then decode a third you've never seen.

• Retrieval, not rereading. Every new card is quizzed right away, and missed questions come back at the end of the lesson.

• Spaced review. Words come back after 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days. A miss starts the word over.

• No punishment. No hearts, no lives, and the team board is opt-in.

Learn from your AI agent (MCP)

claude mcp add skepsis -- npx -y github:ionpetro/skepsis

Then ask your agent: "Start today's Skepsis lesson." Setup for Claude Desktop and Cursor, and the full list of tools, is in mcp/README.md.

Run it locally

git clone https://github.com/ionpetro/skepsis && cd skepsis
npm install
npm test          # content + engine + MCP tests
npm run build     # app/dist/index.html (single-file app) and app/vercel/ (the website)
open app/vercel/index.html

Add a word

Add an item to a lesson in app/src/content.js and run npm test.

• Each root needs 3 example words. The first two are taught, and the third is held back for the "decode a new word" question.

• Each word's pieces must spell it exactly. The tests check this.

Corrections to etymologies are very welcome. Please cite Etymonline, Merriam-Webster or the LSJ lexicon.

License

MIT. Made by Ion Petropoulos.