Greek Alphabet

Provided by the Greek Language and Linguistics Gateway

Writing and Letters

The letters in the alphabet presented below are used for printed Ancient Greek texts. The earliest Greek texts that have survived were written with a radically different script called Linear B.

For a detailed and wonderfully well argued discussion of the origins of the Greek alphabet, see Roger D. Woodard's book, Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer.

Pronunciation

For a discussion of the pronunciation suggestions given here and an explanation of why the Erasmian pronunciation is not included, see below.

Greek Letter				Pronunciation
Lower Case	Upper Case	Name	Traditional English Transliteration	Modern Greek Pronunciation	Reconstructed Classical Pronunciation (before 300 BC/BCE)

		Alpha	a	a as in father	a as in father

		Beta	b	v as in vote	b as in boat

		Gamma	g	g as in go, but before vowels such as iota and epsilon, y as in yet, and before gamma, kappa, xi, or chi, n as in sing	g as in go, but before gamma, kappa, xi, or chi, n as in sing

		Delta	d	th as in then (but not thin); contrast theta below	d as in dog

		E-psilon	e	e as in set	e as in set

		Zeta	z	z as in zoo	sd as in wisdom (Notice that the s is voiced like the z in zoo)

		Eta	e	ee (/i/) as in meet	e as in set, but held longer

		Theta	th	th as in thin (but not then); contrast delta above	asperated t as in top (but not as in stop)

		Iota	i	ee (/i/) as in meet or y as in yet	short iota as i in it; long iota as ee (/i/) in meet

		Kappa	k	ck as in sack	unaspirated ck as in nickle, but not aspirated k as in kite

		Lambda	l	/l/ as in light	/l/ as in light

		Mu	m	/m/ as in mouse	/m/ as in mouse

		Nu	n	/n/ as in nose	/n/ as in nose

		Xi	ks	/ks/ as in kicks or x as in ax	/ks/ as in kicks or x as in ax

		O-micron	o	/o/ as in tote or boat	/o/ as in tote or boat

		Pi	p	/p/ as in pan	unaspirated p as in sap, but not aspirated as in pass

		Rho	r	/r/ more like the Spanish trilled r than English r.	a trilled /r/ like the Spanish r, not like English r.

		Sigma	s	/s/ as in sister	/s/ as in sister, but z as in zoo before beta, gamma, delta, and mu

		Tau	t	unaspirated /t/ as in stop (but unlike top)	unaspirated /t/ as in stop (but unlike top)

		U-psilon	u or y	Like German ü	short upsilon like the u in French tu; long upsilon has the same sound, but held twice as long

		Phi	ph	/f/ as in fan or phone	aspirated p as in pot (not as in spot)

		Chi	ch	Not found in English. Much like Spanish "j".	aspirated k as in kit, but not in skit

		Psi	ps	/ps/ as in lips	/ps/ as in lips

		O-mega		/o/ as in tote	like the vowel sound in caught, but not like the vowel sound in cot. If you pronounce caught and cot the same, click here.

Pronouncing the Greek Alphabet Two sets of pronunciation suggestions are given in the table above: first the pronunciation of each letter in Modern Greek, then the reconstructed pronunciation for the Classical period (before about 350 BCE). The artificial Erasmian pronunciation used in many schools to teach Biblical Greek and sometimes even Classical Greek is not given on this page. The Erasmian system is omitted because it does not accurately reflect the actual pronunciation of the language at any point in its history. While it can be valuable for learning to spell many ancient Greek words, it has no real value in leaning how Ancient Greek was pronounced. While neither the pronunciation suggestions given here nor the Erasmian system acurately reflects the pronunciation of Greek in the Hellenistic period of the New Testament and early Christianity, a reconstructed pronunciation system for that period will be added later. To hear examples of Classical Greek texts read with the reconstructed pitch accent system, visit the Classical Greek Pronunciation page of the Commission for Ancient Literature and Latin Tradition. For a great demonstration of the pronunciation of Modern Greek, see Harry Foundalis' discussion of the Greek Alphabet. He confuses the Erasimian pronunciation with the reconstructed pronunciation of Classical Greek, but his audio demonstrations of Modern Greek pronunciation are extremely valuable. A PDF file containing a fine discussion of the history of Ancient Greek pronunciation by Carl Conrad, tracing its development from Indo-european, can be downloaded by clicking on this link. If you are learning Ancient Greek in a classroom setting, imitate your instructor's pronunciation. Displaying Greek on a Web Site Are you interested in displaying Greek text on a website? Consider using Unicode. You can view the numerical values for the Greek letters at the Web Design Group's web site. Books on the Greek Alphabet Roger D. Woodard's book, Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer, is a wonderful combination of Classical Studies and excellent understanding of Linguistics. He argues for an unbroken history leading from the Linear B syllabary to the Greek Alphabet. The argument is well documented and lucid. In Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet, Barry Powell has written a provocative book asserting that the Greek alphabet was designed intentionally for recording the works of Homer. While Powell shows a thorough knowledge of the available evidence, his proposal still rests on assumptions that cannot be fully tested. Other Web Sites that Display the Greek Alphabet There are many other sites on the internet that show the Greek alphabet. Here are a few that provide particularly useful information: AncientScripts.com has a very nice discussion of the variations in the script by dialect and some of the changes from ancient to modern times. View the entire Greek Alphabet as a single image. The Omniglot site includes a helpful discussion of the Greek alphabet with pronunciation suggestions.