Greek alphabet
This page lists of the various symbols in the Greek alphabet group.
The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the first alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. It is the ancestor of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Apart from its use in writing the Greek language, in both its ancient and its modern forms, the Greek alphabet today also serves as a source of technical symbols and labels in many domains of mathematics, science and other fields.
Symbols in this group:
Alpha
Alpha (uppercase Α, lowercase α; Greek: Άλφα Álpha) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 1. It was derived from the Phoenician letter aleph Aleph. Letters that arose from alpha include the Latin A and the Cyrillic letter А.
Beta
Beta (UK /ˈbiːtə/ or US /ˈbeɪtə/; uppercase Β, lowercase β, or cursive ϐ; Ancient Greek: βῆτα bḗta or Modern Greek: βήτα víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 2. In Ancient Greek, beta represented the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiodental fricative /v/. Letters that arose from beta include the Roman letter ⟨B⟩ and the Cyrillic letters ⟨Б⟩ and ⟨В⟩.
Chi
Chi is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, pronounced /ˈkaɪ/ or /ˈkiː/ in English.
Delta
Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 4. It was derived from the Phoenician letter dalet Phoenician daleth.png. Letters that come from delta include Latin D and Cyrillic Д.
Epsilon
Epsilon (uppercase Ε, lowercase ε or lunate ϵ; Greek: Έψιλον) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding phonetically to a mid front unrounded vowel /e/. In the system of Greek numerals it has the value five. It was derived from the Phoenician letter He He. Letters that arose from epsilon include the Roman E, Ë and Ɛ, and Cyrillic Е, È, Ё, Є and Э.
Eta
Eta is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet. Originally denoting a consonant /h/, its sound value in the classical Attic dialect of Ancient Greek was a long vowel [ɛː], raised to [i] in hellenistic Greek, a process known as iotacism.
Iota
Iota /aɪˈoʊtə/ (uppercase Ι, lowercase ι; Greek: Ιώτα) is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. It was derived from the Phoenician letter Yodh. Letters that arose from this letter include the Latin I and J and the Cyrillic І (І, і), Yi (Ї, ї), Je (Ј, ј), and iotated letters (e.g. Yu (Ю, ю)).
In the system of Greek numerals iota has a value of 10.
Iota represents the sound [i]. In ancient Greek it occurred in both long [iː] and short [i] versions, but this distinction was lost in Koine Greek.
Kappa
Kappa is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, used to represent the /k/ sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, Kʹ has a value of 20. It was derived from the Phoenician letter kaph Phoenician kaph.svg. Letters that arose from kappa include the Roman K and Cyrillic К.
Lambda
Lambda is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is related to the Phoenician letter Lamed Lamedh. Letters in other alphabets that stemmed from lambda include the Latin L and the Cyrillic letter El (Л, л). The ancient grammarians and dramatists give evidence to the pronunciation as [laːbdaː] (λάβδα) in Classical Greek times. In Modern Greek the name of the letter, Λάμδα, is pronounced [lamða]; the spoken letter itself has the sound of "l" as with Latinate "L".
Mu
Mu is the 12th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 40.
Nu
Nu /njuː/ is the 13th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 50. It is derived from the ancient Greek alphabet nun Phoenician nun.svg. Its Latin equivalent is N, though the lowercase resembles the Roman lowercase v ( ν {\displaystyle \nu } \nu ).
Omega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" (ō mega, mega meaning 'great'), as opposed to omicron, which means "little O" (o mikron, micron meaning "little").
Omicron
Omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 70. This letter is derived from the Phoenician letter ayin Phoenician ayin.svg. In classical Greek, omicron represented the sound [o] in contrast to omega [ɔː] and ου [oː]. In modern Greek, omicron represents the mid back rounded vowel /o/. Letters that arose from omicron include Roman O and Cyrillic O.
Phi
Phi is the 21st letter of the Greek alphabet. In Ancient Greek, it represented an aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive ([pʰ]), which was the origin of its usual romanization as "ph". In modern Greek, it represents a voiceless labiodental fricative ([f]) and is correspondingly romanized as "f". Its origin is uncertain but it may be that phi originated as the letter qoppa and initially represented the sound /kʷʰ/ before shifting to Classical Greek [pʰ]. In traditional Greek numerals, phi has a value of 500 (φʹ) or 500 000 (͵φ). The Cyrillic letter Ef (Ф, ф) descends from phi.
Pi
Pi is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing [p]. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 80. It was derived from the Phoenician letter pe Phoenician pe.svg. Letters that arose from pi include Cyrillic Pe (П, п), Coptic pi (Ⲡ, ⲡ), and Gothic pairthra (
Psi
Psi is the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and has a numeric value of 700. In both Classical and Modern Greek, the letter indicates the combination /ps/ (as in English word "lapse").
For Greek loanwords in Latin and modern languages with Latin alphabets, psi is usually transliterated as "ps". In English, the letter is pronounced /ˈsaɪ/ or sometimes /ˈpsaɪ/. (In Greek, it is pronounced [ˈpsiː].)
Rho
Rho is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician letter res Phoenician res.svg. Its uppercase form is not to be confused with the Latin letter P, although both types use the same glyph: P.
Sigma
Sigma is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. When used at the end of a word (when the word is not all caps), the final form (ς) is used, e.g. Ὀδυσσεύς (Odysseus); note the two sigmas in the center of the name, and the word-final sigma at the end.
Strength
The strength lies inside of this symbol. Taureans mostly have it in them. The strength inside of this artictectrialrayitik (ar-tik-tect-ree-ahL-ruh-yiht-ick-) has more that you can imagine.
Tau
Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 300.
The name in English is pronounced /taʊ/ or /tɔː/,
but in modern Greek it is [taf]. This is because the pronunciation of the combination of Greek letters αυ has changed from ancient to modern times from one of [au] to either [av] or [af], depending on what follows (see Greek orthography).
Upsilon
Upsilon is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, Υʹ has a value of 400. It is derived from the Phoenician waw Phoenician waw.svg.
Xi
Xi is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is pronounced [ksi] in Modern Greek, and generally /ˈzaɪ/ or /ˈsaɪ/ in English. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 60. Xi was derived from the Phoenician letter samekh Phoenician samekh.svg.
Xi is not to be confused with the letter chi, which gave its form to the Latin letter X.
Zeta
Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician letter zayin Zayin. Letters that arose from zeta include the Roman Z and Cyrillic З.
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