Greek Alphabet

The Greek alphabet is the writing system used for the Greek language. It derives from the Phoenician alphabet, but was modified by adding letters to represent vowels, making it distinct from earlier syllabic writing systems that recorded only consonants.

It consists of 24 letters. Each letter has two forms: uppercase and lowercase. Lowercase letters emerged in the later Byzantine period, whereas earlier writing used only uppercase letters.

The Letters

The letters include: alpha (Α α), beta (Β β), gamma (Γ γ), delta (Δ δ), epsilon (Ε ε), zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi (Π π), rho, sigma (Σ σ/ς), tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, and omega (Ω ω). Sigma has two lowercase forms: one for medial position and one for word-final position.

History and Spread

The alphabet emerged around the first century BCE. Initially there were various local variants used by different city-states; eventually the Ionic form used in Athens was adopted universally. This form became the basis for the standard Greek writing system.

The Greek alphabet gave rise to or influenced other writing systems. The Latin alphabet is based on a Greek form that passed through Italy (commonly attributed to the Etruscans). The Cyrillic alphabet also derives directly from Greek writing.

Modern Use

Greek letters are widely used in mathematics, physics, and engineering as symbols: for example pi (π) represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, alpha, beta, and gamma denote types of radiation, and delta (Δ) indicates change. This usage is independent of the Greek language itself.