Souvlaki
Souvlaki is the diminutive of souvla, which comes from the Latin subula, meaning shoe maker’s awl. In other words, a needle. It makes sense, then, that souvla has come to be the word used by Greeks for the tool that they use to skewer meat.
Souvla + the diminutive suffix, ‘-ki’ = souvlaki = ‘small souvla’. The plural of souvlaki is souvlakia.
Gyros
When you hear the word gyros, you might picture a conical pita wrap filled with meat, tzatziki and fries. What gyros really refers to, though, is the kind of meat that you sometimes find inside it. Gyros is the vertical (or sometimes horizontal), rotating spit of seasoned meat fillets that is grilled and carved to order.
Pork is the default meat, chicken being the main alternative. Gyros made out of beef, lamb, or minced meat is sometimes also often referred to as döner (ντονέρ) in Greece. This gives us a little glimpse as to the history of gyros, as well as the distinction between gyros and doner. You’ll see more about both below.