Greek Alphabetical Letters +

(Greek: Alpha to Omega)

Although the Greek alphabet is an ancestor of the English alphabet, the order and shape of the English letters are essentially the same as that of the Latin alphabet. Since most Greek words came into English through Latin, it has had the greatest influence on the transliteration of Greek for use in English.

The Latin alphabet is a modification of one of the many Greek alphabets. The order and shape of the Latin letters are the same as English except that the Classical Latin alphabet had no j, u, or w; which were introduced sometime during the Middle Ages.

The Greek alphabet used today is based on the one that was used in Athens by the end of the fifth century B.C. The table shows the modern English pronunciation of each ancient Greek character as it is now generally used in English. Modern Greeks have different pronunciations for many of the Greek letters presented here.

Greek	English	English	Latinized
Letters	Names	Pronunciations	Transcriptions
	alpha	AL fuh	a
	beta	BAY tuh	b
	gamma	GAM muh	g
	delta	DEL tuh	d
	epsilon	EP suh luhn	e
	zeta	ZAY tuh, ZEE tuh	z
	eta	AY tuh, EE tuh	e
	theta	THAY tuh, THEE tuh	th
	iota	igh OH tuh	i
	kappa	KAP uh	k, c
	lambda	LAM duh	l
	mu	MYOO, MOO	m
	nu	NOO, NYOO	n
	xi	KSIGH, ZIGH, SIGH	x
	omicron	AHM i krahn", OH mi krahn"	“short” o
	pi	PIGH	p
	rho	ROH	r; rr; rh
	sigma	SIG muh	s
	tau	TAW, TOH	t
	upsilon	UP suh lahn", YOOP suh lahn"	y or u
	phi	FIGH	ph
	chi	KIGH	ch
	psi	SIGH, PSIGH	ps
	omega	oh MEG uh, oh MAY guh	“long” o