Alphabet

Αλφάβητο

The Greek alphabet has 24 letters. Some have no real English counterpart, and several have misleading English names, like β which is called "beta" in English but is actually pronounced "vita." Several Greek letters are equivalent to two-letter English combinations.

The Greek name for every letter begins with that letter. The ~English column shows the nearest equivalent – don’t take it as gospel.

Upper	Lower	Greek name	IPA	~ English	English name
Α	α	άλφα	a	a in father	alpha
Β	β	βήτα	v	v in veto	beta
Γ	γ	γάμμα	ʝ ɣ	* y in yes	gamma
Δ	δ	δέλτα	ð	th in then	delta
Ε	ε	έψιλον	ɛ	e in bed	epsilon
Ζ	ζ	ζήτα	z	z in zeal	zeta
Η	η	ήτα	i	ea in eat	eta
Θ	θ	θήτα	θ	th in thank	theta
Ι	ι	ιώτα	i ʝ	ea in eat y in yet	iota
Κ	κ	κάππα	k	k in keg	kappa
Λ	λ	λάμβδα	l	l in lot	lambda
Μ	μ	μυ	m	m in me	mu
Ν	ν	νυ	n	n in neat	nu
Ξ	ξ	ξι	ks	ks in yaks	xi
Ο	ο	όμικρον	o	o in owe	omicron
Π	π	πι	p	p in peel	pi
Ρ	ρ	ρω	r	rolled r **	rho
Σ	σ ς ***	σίγμα	s	s in signal	sigma
Τ	τ	ταυ	t	t in tough	tau
Υ	υ	ύψιλον	i	ea in eat	upsilon
Φ	φ	φι	f	f in fee	phi
Χ	χ	χι	x	****	chi
Ψ	ψ	ψι	ps	ps in tips	psi
Ω	ω	ωμέγα	o	o in owe	omega

* Similar to the French r apical.

** Similar to the Spanish rolled r

*** ς is only for the end of a word; σ is used everywhere else

**** Pronounced in the back of the mouth, but not the throat. Like a harsh "h."

Αλφάβητο

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