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The Greyhound is a breed of hunting dog that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, but with a recent resurgence of popularity increasingly as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed that often becomes attached to its owner. A combination of long, powerful legs, deep chest, flexible spine and slim build allow it to reach average race speed speeds of in excess of 18 metres per second (59 feet per second) or 65 kilometres per hour (40 mph).

The breed's origin is romantically reputed to be connected to ancient Egypt, where depictions of smooth-coated sighthound types have been found which are typical of Saluki (Persian Greyhound) or Sloughi (tombs at Beni Hassan circa 2000BC). However, analyses of DNA reported in 2004 suggest that the Greyhound is not closely related to these breeds, but is a close relative to herding dogs. Historical literature on the first sighthound in Europe (Arrian), the vertragus, the probable antecedent of the Greyhound, suggests that the origin is with the ancient Celts from Eastern Europe or Eurasia. All modern, pure-bred pedigree Greyhounds, are derived from the greyhound stock recorded and registered, firstly in the private 18th century then public 19th century studbooks, which ultimately were registered with Coursing, Racing, and Kennel Club authorities of the United Kingdom.

Historically, these sighthounds were used primarily for hunting in the open where their keen eyesight is valuable. It is believed that they (or at least similarly-named dogs) were introduced to the area now known as the United Kingdom in the 5th and 6th century BC from Celtic mainland Europe although the Picts and other hunter gatherer tribes of the Northern area (now known as Scotland) were believed to have had large hounds similar to that of the Deerhound before the 6th century BC.

The name "greyhound" is generally believed to come from the Old English grighund. "Hund" is the antecedent of the modern "hound", but the meaning of "grig" is undetermined, other than in reference to dogs in Old English and Norse. Its origin does not appear to have any common root with the modern word "grey" for colour, and indeed the greyhound is seen with a wide variety of coat colours. It is known that in England during the medieval period, lords and royalty keen to own greyhounds for sport, requested they be bred to colour variants that made them easier to view and identify in pursuit of their quarry.[citation needed] The lighter colours, patch-like markings and white appeared in the breed that was once ordinarily grey in colour. The greyhound is the only dog mentioned by name in the Bible; the King James version names the Greyhound as one of the four things stately in the Proverbs. However, some more recent translations have changed this to strutting rooster, which appears to be a more correct translation of the Hebrew term זַרְזִיר (zarzir).

According to Pokorny the English name "greyhound" does not mean "grey dog/hound", but simply "fair dog". Subsequent words have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *g'her- 'shine, twinkle': English grey, Old High German gris 'grey, old', Old Icelandic griss 'piglet, pig', Old Icelandic gryja 'to dawn', gryjandi 'morning twilight', Old Irish grian 'sun', Old Church Slavonic zorja 'morning twilight, brightness'. The common sense of these words is 'to shine; brigh

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