What's the meaning of the Phi »

Phi

This page is about the meaning, origin and characteristic of the symbol, emblem, seal, sign, logo or flag: Phi.

Rate this symbol:5.0 / 2 votes

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.

Phi is also used as a symbol for the golden ratio and on other occasions in math and science. This use is separately encoded as the Unicode glyph ϕ. The modern Greek pronunciation of the letter is sometimes encountered in English (as /fiː/) when the letter is being used in this sense.

3,951 Views

Graphical characteristics:
Asymmetric, Closed shape, Monochrome, Contains both straight and curved lines, Has crossing lines.

Category: Alphabets.

Phi is part of the Greek alphabet group.

More symbols in Greek alphabet:

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 letter… read more »

More symbols in Alphabets:

An alphabet is a standard set of letters (basic written symbols or graphemes) that is used to write one or more languages based on the general principle that the letters represent phonemes (basic sig… read more »

Have a discussion about Phi with the community:

0 Comments

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this symbol to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Phi." Symbols.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 22 Nov. 2024. <https://www.symbols.com/symbol/phi>.

    We need you!

    Are we missing an important symbol in this category?

    Graphical Index

    Use our unique search feature to find a symbol based on its various graphical characteristics:


    • Symmetry:
    • Shape:
    • Colors:
    • Curveness:
    • Crossing:

    Quiz

    Are you a world flags master?

    »
    A Burkina Faso
    B Eritrea
    C Japan
    D U.S. Virgin Islands