Greek alphabet
Ελληνικό αλφάβητο
The Greek alphabet has been in continuous use for roughly three thousand years. Its twenty-four letters encode the sounds of Modern Greek, Ancient Greek, Koine Greek, and by extension the scientific and mathematical notation used around the world today.
All 24 letters
Αα
Alpha
a
/a/
Ancestor of Latin A.
Ββ
Beta
b / v
/b (ancient) / v (modern)/
Sound shifted from b to v after antiquity.
Γγ
Gamma
g
/ɣ / g/
Δδ
Delta
d
/ð (modern)/
Source of the mathematical Δ (change).
Εε
Epsilon
e
/e/
Literally "simple e" — to distinguish from the diphthong αι which also sounded like e.
Ζζ
Zeta
z
/z/
Ηη
Eta
ē / i
/i (modern) / ɛː (ancient)/
Long "e" in ancient; merged with "i" in modern Greek.
Θθ
Theta
th
/θ/
Voiceless "th" as in "thin".
Ιι
Iota
i
/i/
The English word "jot" (a tiny amount) comes from iota.
Κκ
Kappa
k
/k/
Λλ
Lambda
l
/l/
Μμ
Mu
m
/m/
The SI prefix μ- (micro) is lowercase mu.
Νν
Nu
n
/n/
Ξξ
Xi
x
/ks/
A single letter for the ks cluster.
Οο
Omicron
o
/o/
"Small o" — literally o-mikron, short o.
Ππ
Pi
p
/p/
The mathematical π (3.14159…) is the same letter.
Ρρ
Rho
r
/r/
Σσ / ς
Sigma
s
/s/
Uses ς (final sigma) at the end of words, σ elsewhere.
Ττ
Tau
t
/t/
Υυ
Upsilon
y / u
/i (modern) / y (ancient)/
The U/V/W/Y cluster of Latin letters all descend from upsilon.
Φφ
Phi
ph / f
/f/
Χχ
Chi
ch / kh
/x/
Not the English "ch" — a throaty kh like Scottish "loch".
Ψψ
Psi
ps
/ps/
A single letter for the ps cluster (as in "psychology").
Ωω
Omega
ō / o
/o/
"Big o" — the last letter, source of the expression "from alpha to omega".
History
Adapted from the Phoenician abjad around the 9th century BCE, Greek was the first script in the Mediterranean to assign independent letters to vowels — a leap that turned a consonant script into a true alphabet. Its shapes were borrowed wholesale by the Etruscans, who passed them to the Romans, producing the Latin alphabet you are reading right now. The Greek letters you learn below are, quite literally, the ancestors of every European writing system from Rome to Reykjavík.
Things you might not know
- Every Latin letter from A to Z descends from a Greek letter, which in turn descends from a Phoenician letter that began as an Egyptian hieroglyph.
- The word "alphabet" itself comes from alpha and beta, the first two Greek letters.
- Ancient Greek had no spaces or lowercase letters — those were medieval inventions.
- Sigma has two lowercase forms: σ inside a word, ς at the end. It's the only letter in any European script with a context-dependent final form.