Greek alphabet

The Greek alphabet (Greek: Ελληνικό αλφάβητο) is a set of letters used to represent the written Greek language. Originating around the 9th century BC, it was based upon the Phoenician consonantal alphabet (which also gave rise to the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets). The Greek alphabet was the first true alphabet, representing both consonants and vowels, each with their own individual symbol. The Latin and Cyrillic alphabets are largely based on Greek, with some modifications.

Main letters

The modern Greek alphabet is as follows:

Name Letter	Alpha Αα	Beta Ββ	Gamma Γγ	Delta Δδ	Epsilon Εε	Zeta Ζζ	Eta Ηη	Theta Θθ
Name Letter	Iota Ιι	Kappa Κκ	Lambda Λλ	Mu Μμ	Nu Νν	Xi Ξξ	Omicron Οο	Pi Ππ
Name Letter	Rho Ρρ	Sigma Σσς	Tau Ττ	Upsilon Υυ	Phi Φφ	Chi Χχ	Psi Ψψ	Omega Ωω

Originally Greek was only written with what are today considered capital letters. The lowercase letters are based on handwritten forms developed during the Byzantine period of Greek history. In the case of sigma, the lowercase form varies depending on whether it occurs at the end of a word (ς).

Pronunciation

In many cases, the modern phonetic values of the letters match the pronunciation of the initial letter (or letter clusters) of their names in English. However, some letters have shifted in pronunciation since ancient times, so this is not always the case. For example, in Ancient Greek, the letter beta was pronounced like the Latin letter B, whereas in Modern Greek it is pronounced like the Latin letter V.

Digraphs can be formed to signify sounds not covered by the main alphabet (e.g., ντ for /d/), or to represent diphthongs (e.g., αυ for /af/ or /av/).

Obsolete letters

The original Greek alphabet included the letters digamma (Ϝϝ), san (Ϻϻ), and qoppa (Ϙϙ). Digamma was dropped due to the loss of the sound it represented in Greek (/w/), and san and qoppa were dropped in favor of sigma and kappa. Qoppa was preserved in certain Western dialects, and eventually evolved into the Latin letter Q. It is still used occasionally as a Greek numeral, albeit in a different form (Ϟϟ).

Other uses

"I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." (Revelation 1:8)

In the Christian Bible, the letters alpha and omega together are an appellation for God, specifically in the phrase "I am the alpha and the omega" (Revelation 1:8, 21:6, and 22:13).

Greek letters are also used in the names of fraternities and sororities, as well as mathematical symbols.