View source for Greek alphabet

{{Short description|Script used to write the Greek language}}
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{{Infobox writing system
| name        = Greek alphabet
| sample      = Greekalphabet.svg
| imagesize   = 250px
| caption     = {{tlit|el|Ellinikó alfávito}}{{break}}"Greek alphabet" in the modern Greek language
| type        = [[Alphabet]]
| languages   = [[Greek language|Greek]]
| official script = {{ubl|[[Languages of Greece|Greece]]|[[Languages of Cyprus|Cyprus]]|[[Languages of the European Union|European Union]]}}
| time        = {{nowrap|{{Circa|800 BC}} –}} present<ref name="date">{{harvnb|Lopez-Ruiz|2022|p=231}}; {{harvnb|Parker|Steele|2021|p=2}}; {{harvnb|Powell|2012|p=240}}</ref>
| direction   = Left-to-right
| fam1        = [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
| fam2        = [[Proto-Sinaitic alphabet]]
| fam3        = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| children    = {{hlist|style=line-height:1.35em; |[[Anatolian alphabets|Anatolian]] |[[Armenian alphabet|Armenian]] |[[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] |[[Cyrillic]] |[[Georgian scripts|Georgian]] |[[Glagolitic]] |[[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] |[[Old Italic script|Old Italic]] (most notably [[Etruscan alphabet|Etruscan]]) and thus [[Latin script|Latin]] and [[Runic]]}}
| unicode     = {{ublist |class=nowrap |[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0370.pdf U+0370–U+03FF] Greek and Coptic |[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F00.pdf U+1F00–U+1FFF] Greek Extended}}
| iso15924    = Grek
| note        = none
}}
{{Greek Alphabet}}
The '''Greek alphabet''' has been used to write the [[Greek language]] since the late 9th or early 8th century&nbsp;BC.<ref>The date of the earliest inscribed objects; {{harvnb|Johnston|2003|pp=263–276}} summarizes the scholarship on the dating.</ref><ref>See also: {{harvnb|Lopez-Ruiz|2022|pp=230-231}}; {{harvnb|Parker|Steele|2021|pp=2-3}}; {{harvnb|Woodard|Scott|2014|p=3}}; {{harvnb|Horrocks|2014|p=xviii}}; {{harvnb|Howatson|2013|p=35}}; {{harvnb|Swiggers|1996|p=268}}; {{harvnb|Cook|1987|p=9}}</ref> It was derived from the earlier [[Phoenician alphabet]],<ref>[http://www.arcalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Near-Eastern-Chronology-and-the-development-of-the-Greek-Alphabet.pdf The Development of the Greek Alphabet within the Chronology of the ANE] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412180954/http://www.arcalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Near-Eastern-Chronology-and-the-development-of-the-Greek-Alphabet.pdf |date=2015-04-12 }} (2009), Quote: "Naveh gives four major reasons why it is universally agreed that the Greek alphabet was developed from an early Phoenician alphabet.<br />1 According to Herodutous "the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus... brought into Hellas the alphabet, which had hitherto been unknown, as I think, to the Greeks."<br />2 The Greek Letters, alpha, beta, gimmel have no meaning in Greek but the meaning of most of their Semitic equivalents is known. For example, 'aleph' means 'ox', 'bet' means 'house' and 'gimmel' means 'throw stick'.<br />3 Early Greek letters are very similar and sometimes identical to the West Semitic letters.<br />4 The letter sequence between the Semitic and Greek alphabets is identical. (Naveh 1982)"</ref> and is the earliest known [[alphabetic script]] to systematically write [[vowels]] as well as [[consonants]].<ref>{{harvnb|Horrocks|2014|p=xviii: "By redeploying letters that that denoted consonant sounds irrelevant to Greek, the vowels could now be written systematically, thus producing the first 'true' alphabet"}}; {{harvnb|Howatson|2013|p=35}}; {{harvnb|Swiggers|1996|p=265}}</ref> In [[Archaic Greece|Archaic]] and early [[Classical Greece|Classical]] times, the Greek alphabet existed in [[Archaic Greek alphabets|many local variants]], but, by the end of the 4th century&nbsp;BC, the [[Ionia|Ionic]]-based [[Euclidean alphabet]], with 24 letters, ordered from [[alpha]] to [[omega]], had become standard throughout the Greek-speaking world<ref>{{harvnb|Howatson|2013|p=35}}; {{harvnb|Threatte|1996|p=271}}</ref> and is the version that is still used for Greek writing today.{{sfn|Horrocks|2014|p=xviii}}

The [[letter case|uppercase and lowercase forms]] of the 24 letters are:
: {{lang|el|[[Α]] α}}, {{lang|el|[[Β]] β}}, {{lang|el|[[Γ]] γ}}, {{lang|el|[[Δ]] δ}}, {{lang|el|[[Ε]] ε}}, {{lang|el|[[Ζ]] ζ}}, {{lang|el|[[Η]] η}}, {{lang|el|[[Θ]] θ}}, {{lang|el|[[Ι]] ι}}, {{lang|el|[[Κ]] κ}}, {{lang|el|[[Λ]] λ}}, {{lang|el|[[Μ]] μ}}, {{lang|el|[[Ν]] ν}}, {{lang|el|[[Ξ]] ξ}}, {{lang|el|[[Ο]] ο}}, {{lang|el|[[Pi (letter)|Π]] π}}, {{lang|el|[[Ρ]] ρ}}, {{lang|el|[[Σ]] σ ς}}, {{lang|el|[[Τ]] τ}}, {{lang|el|[[Υ]] υ}}, {{lang|el|[[Φ]] φ}}, {{lang|el|[[Χ]] χ}}, {{lang|el|[[Ψ]] ψ}}, {{lang|el|[[Ω]] ω}}.

The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of several scripts, such as the [[Latin script|Latin]], [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]], [[Coptic script|Coptic]], and [[Cyrillic]] scripts.{{sfn|Coulmas|1996|p=}} Throughout antiquity, Greek had only a single [[uppercase]] form of each letter. It was written without [[diacritics]] and with little [[punctuation]].{{sfn|Threatte|1996|p=272}} By the 9th century, [[Byzantine literature|Byzantine scribes]] had begun to employ the lowercase form, which they derived from the [[cursive]] styles of the uppercase letters.<ref>{{harvnb|Colvin|2014|pp=87-88}}; {{harvnb|Threatte|1996|p=272}}</ref> Sound values and conventional transcriptions for some of the letters differ between [[Ancient Greek|Ancient]] and [[Modern Greek]] usage because the pronunciation of Greek has changed significantly between the 5th century&nbsp;BC and the present. Additionally, Modern and Ancient Greek now use [[Greek diacritics|different diacritics]], with ancient Greek using the [[polytonic]] orthography and modern Greek keeping only the [[stress (linguistics)|stress]] accent ([[acute accent|acute]]) and the [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]].

Apart from its use in writing the Greek language, in both its ancient and its modern forms, the Greek alphabet today also serves as a source of international [[Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering|technical symbols and labels]] in many domains of [[mathematics]], [[science]], and other fields.

== Letters ==
=== Sound values ===
{{Main|Greek orthography|Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching}}{{Further|Manners of articulation}}
In both Ancient and Modern Greek, the letters of the Greek alphabet have fairly stable and consistent symbol-to-sound mappings, making pronunciation of words largely predictable. Ancient Greek spelling was generally near-[[Phonemic orthography|phonemic]]. For a number of letters, sound values differ considerably between Ancient and Modern Greek, because their pronunciation has followed a set of systematic phonological shifts that affected the language in its post-classical stages.<ref name="horrocks_231">{{harvnb|Horrocks|2006|pp=231–250}}</ref>

{|cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" style="text-align:center;"
|style="vertical-align:top;"|

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Letter !! rowspan="2"|Name
!colspan="2"|Ancient pronunciation
!colspan="2"|Modern pronunciation
|-
! {{smaller|IPA<ref name="woodard_2008_15">{{harvnb|Woodard|2008|pp=15–17}}</ref>}}
! {{smaller|Approximate western European equivalent}}
! {{smaller|IPA<ref name="holton_1998_31">{{harvnb|Holton|Mackridge|Philippaki-Warburton|1998|p=31}}</ref>}}
! {{smaller|Approximate western European equivalent}}<ref name="Adams1987pp67">{{harvnb|Adams|1987|pages=6–7}}</ref>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Α α}} ||[[alpha]], {{wikt-lang|el|άλφα}} || Short: {{IPAblink|a}}<br />Long: {{IPAblink|aː}} ||Short: similar to a as in English ''h<u>a</u>t''<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/><br />Long: a as in English ''f<u>a</u>ther''<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>|| {{IPAblink|ɐ|a}} ||a as in American English ''f<u>a</u>ther'', but short
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Β β}} ||[[beta]], {{wikt-lang|el|βήτα}} || {{IPAblink|b}}<ref name="Mastronarde2013p10">{{harvnb|Mastronarde|2013|page=10}}</ref><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> || b as in English ''<u>b</u>etter''<ref name="Groton2013p10">{{harvnb|Groton|2013|page=3}}</ref><ref name="Mastronarde2013p10"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> || {{IPAblink|v}} || v as in English ''<u>v</u>ote''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Γ γ}} ||[[gamma]], {{wikt-lang|el|γάμμα}} || {{IPAblink|ɡ}}<br />{{IPAblink|ŋ}} when used before {{lang|el|γ}}, {{lang|el|κ}}, {{lang|el|ξ}}, {{lang|el|χ}}, and possibly {{lang|el|μ}}|| g as in English ''<u>g</u>et''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p10"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>,<br />ng as in English ''sing'' when used before {{lang|el|γ}}, {{lang|el|κ}}, {{lang|el|ξ}}, {{lang|el|χ}}, and possibly {{lang|el|μ}}<ref name="Mastronarde2013p10"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/><ref group="ex">For example, ἀ'''γ'''κών.</ref> ||{{IPAblink|ɣ}} before {{IPAblink|ɐ|a}}, {{IPAblink|o̞|o}}, {{IPAblink|u}};
{{IPAblink|ʝ}} before {{IPAblink|e}}, {{IPAblink|i}};

{{IPAblink|ŋ}}<ref group="ex">For example, ε'''γ'''γραφή.</ref> ~ {{IPAblink|ɲ}}<ref group="ex">For example, ε'''γ'''γεγραμμένος.</ref>
| g as in Spanish ''la<u>g</u>o;''
Similar to y as in English ''<u>y</u>ellow;''

ng as in English ''lo<u>ng;</u>''

ñ as in Spanish ''a<u>ñ</u>o''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Δ δ}} ||[[Delta (letter)|delta]], {{wikt-lang|el|δέλτα}} || {{IPAblink|d}} || d as in English ''<u>d</u>elete''<ref name="Groton2013p10"/><ref name="Mastronarde2013p10"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> ||{{IPAblink|ð}} || th as in English ''<u>th</u>en''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ε ε}} ||[[epsilon]], {{wikt-lang|el|έψιλον}} || {{IPAblink|e}} || colspan="3"|ea as in Scottish English gr<u>ea</u>''t''<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Matthews |first=Ben |date=May 2006 |title=Acquisition of Scottish English Phonology: An Overview |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277877087 |access-date=25 October 2023 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref>
é as in French ''<u>é</u>t<u>é</u>''

Similar to ay as in English overl<u>ay</u>, but without pronouncing y. <!--See [[Talk:Greek alphabet#Sound values of epsilon and eta]]-->
|-
<!--Voiced alveolar affricate-->
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ζ ζ}} ||[[zeta]], {{wikt-lang|el|ζήτα}} || {{IPA|[zd]}}, <small>or possibly {{IPAblink|dz}}</small> || sd as in English ''wi<u>sd</u>om'',<br /><small>or possibly dz as in English ''a<u>dz</u>e''</small><ref name="hinge">{{harvnb|Hinge|2001|pp=212–234}}</ref><ref name="KellerRussell2012pp56">{{harvnb|Keller|Russell|2012|pages=5–6}}</ref>{{refn|group="note"|name="zetashift"|By around 350&nbsp;BC, zeta in the Attic dialect had shifted to become a single fricative, {{IPAblink|z}}, as in modern Greek.<ref name="Mastronarde2013p11">{{harvnb|Mastronarde|2013|page=11}}</ref>}} ||{{IPAblink|z}} || z as in English ''<u>z</u>oo''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Η η}} ||[[eta]], {{wikt-lang|el|ήτα}} || {{IPAblink|ɛː}} ||e as in English ''n<u>e</u>t'', but long<ref>{{Cite web |title=Net Definition & Meaning |url=https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/net |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=Britannica Dictionary |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108211326/https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/net |url-status=live }}</ref>
ai as in English ''f<u>ai</u>ry''

ê as in French ''t<u>ê</u>te''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p11" /><!--See [[Talk:Greek alphabet#Sound values of epsilon and eta]]-->
| {{IPAblink|i}} || i as in English ''mach<u>i</u>ne'', but short
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Θ θ}} ||[[theta]], {{wikt-lang|el|θήτα}} || {{IPAblink|tʰ}} || t as in English ''<u>t</u>op''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p11"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>{{refn|group="note"|name="thetaphichi"|The letters [[theta]] {{angbr|{{lang|el|θ}}}}, [[phi]] {{angbr|{{lang|el|φ}}}}, and [[Chi (letter)|chi]] {{angbr|{{lang|el|χ}}}} are normally taught to English speakers with their modern Greek pronunciations of {{IPAblink|θ}}, {{IPAblink|f}}, and {{IPAblink|x}} ~ {{IPAblink|ç}} respectively, because these sounds are easier for English speakers to distinguish from the sounds made by the letters [[tau]] ({{IPAblink|t}}), [[pi (letter)|pi]] ({{IPAblink|p}}), and [[kappa]] ({{IPAblink|k}}) respectively.<ref name="Mastronarde2013pp1113">{{harvnb|Mastronarde|2013|pages=11–13}}</ref><ref name="KellerRussell2012pp56"/> These are not the sounds they made in classical Attic Greek.<ref name="Mastronarde2013pp1113"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012pp56"/> In classical Attic Greek, these three letters were always [[aspirated consonants]], pronounced exactly like tau, pi, and kappa respectively, only with a blast of air following the actual consonant sound.<ref name="Mastronarde2013pp1113"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012pp56"/>}} ||{{IPAblink|θ}} ||th as in English ''<u>th</u>in''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ι ι}} ||[[iota]], {{wikt-lang|el|ιώτα}} || Short: {{IPAblink|i}}<br />Long: {{IPAblink|iː}} ||Short: i as in French ''v<u>i</u>te'',<ref name="Mastronarde2013p11"/><br />Long: i as in English ''mach<u>i</u>ne''<ref name="Adams1987pp67"/>||{{IPAblink|i}}, {{IPAblink|ç}},<ref group="ex">For example, πάπ'''ι'''α.</ref> {{IPAblink|ʝ}},<ref group="ex">For example, β'''ι'''α.</ref> {{IPAblink|ɲ}}<ref group="ex">For example, μ'''ι'''α.</ref> || i as in English ''mach<u>i</u>ne'', but short
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Κ κ}} ||[[kappa]], {{wikt-lang|el|κάππα}} || {{IPAblink|k}} || k as in English,<ref name="Mastronarde2013p11"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> but completely [[unaspirated]]<ref name="Mastronarde2013p11"/> as in ''as<u>k</u>ing''|| {{IPAblink|k}} before {{IPAblink|ɐ|a}}, {{IPAblink|o̞|o}}, {{IPAblink|u}};

{{IPAblink|c}} before {{IPAblink|e}}, {{IPAblink|i}}
| k as in English ''ma<u>k</u>e'';
q as in French ''<u>q</u>ui''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Λ λ}} ||[[lambda|lambda, lamda, labda]], {{wikt-lang|el|λάμβδα| λάμβδα, λάμδα, λάβδα}}{{refn|group="note"|name="lambdaorlabda"|The letter {{lang|el|Λ}} is almost universally known today as ''lambda'' ({{wikt-lang|el|λάμβδα}}) except in Modern Greek and in [[Lambda#Character encodings|Unicode]], where it is ''lamda'' ({{wikt-lang|el|λάμδα}}), and the most common name for it during the [[Classical Greece|Greek Classical Period]] (510–323 BC) appears to have been {{tlit|el|labda}} ({{wikt-lang|el|λάβδα}}), without the {{lang|el|μ}}.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>}} || {{IPAblink|l}} || colspan="3"|l as in English ''<u>l</u>antern''<ref name="Groton2013p10"/><ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Μ μ}} ||[[Mu (letter)|mu]], {{wikt-lang|el|μυ}} || {{IPAblink|m}} || colspan="3"|m as in English ''<u>m</u>usic''<ref name="Groton2013p10"/><ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ν ν}} ||[[Nu (letter)|nu]], {{wikt-lang|el|νυ}} || {{IPAblink|n}} || colspan="3"|n as in English ''<u>n</u>et''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ξ ξ}} ||[[Xi (letter)|xi]], {{wikt-lang|el|ξι}} || {{IPA|[ks]}} || colspan="3"|x as in English ''fo<u>x</u>''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ο ο}} ||[[omicron]], {{wikt-lang|el|όμικρον}} || {{IPAblink|o̞|o}} || colspan="3"|o as in German {{lang|de|<u>o</u>hne}}, similar to British English ''c<u>a</u>ll''
ô as in French ''t<u>ô</u>t''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Π π}} ||[[Pi (letter)|pi]], {{wikt-lang|el|πι}} || {{IPAblink|p}} || colspan="3"|[[Unaspirated]] p as in English ''s<u>p</u>ot''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ρ ρ}} ||[[rho]], {{wikt-lang|el|ρο}} || {{IPAblink|r}} ~ {{IPAblink|ɾ}} || colspan="3"|rr as in Spanish {{lang|es|ca<u>rr</u>o}};
r as in Spanish {{lang|es|ca<u>r</u>o}}<ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/><ref name="Groton2013p10"/>

|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Σ&nbsp;σ/ς}}{{refn|group="note"|name="nicholas_finalsigma"|The letter [[sigma]] {{angbr|{{lang|el|Σ}}}} has two different lowercase forms in its standard variant, with {{angbr|{{lang|el|ς}}}} being used in word-final position and {{angbr|{{lang|el|σ}}}} elsewhere.<ref name="KellerRussell2012pp56"/><ref name="Mastronarde2013p12">{{harvnb|Mastronarde|2013|page=12}}</ref><ref name="Nick2004">{{cite web |first=Nick |last=Nicholas |year=2004 |title=Sigma: final versus non-final |url=http://www.opoudjis.net/unicode/letters.html |access-date=2016-09-29 |archive-date=2016-10-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021094340/http://www.opoudjis.net/unicode/letters.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In some 19th-century typesetting, {{angbr|{{lang|el|ς}}}} was also used word-medially at the end of a [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] morpheme, e.g. {{lang|el|δυςκατανοήτων}}, marking the morpheme boundary between {{lang|el|δυς-κατανοήτων}} ('difficult to understand'); modern standard practice is to spell {{lang|el|δυσκατανοήτων}} with a non-final sigma.<ref name="Nick2004"/> }}
|[[sigma]], {{wikt-lang|el|σίγμα}} || {{IPAblink|s}}<br />{{IPAblink|z}} before {{lang|el|β}}, {{lang|el|γ}}, or {{lang|el|μ}}|| colspan="3"|s as in English ''<u>s</u>oft''<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/><br /> s as in English ''mu<u>s</u>e'' when used before {{lang|el|β}}, {{lang|el|γ}}, or {{lang|el|μ}}<ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Τ τ}} ||[[tau]], {{wikt-lang|el|ταυ}} || {{IPAblink|t}} || colspan="3"|[[Unaspirated]] t as in English ''s<u>t</u>oke''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Υ υ}} ||[[upsilon]], {{wikt-lang|el|ύψιλον}} || Short: {{IPAblink|y}}<br />Long: {{IPAblink|yː}} ||Short: u as in French ''l<u>u</u>ne,'' ü as in German ''Br<u>ü</u>der''<br />Long: u as in French ''r<u>u</u>se''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p12"/> ||{{IPAblink|i}} || i as in English ''mach<u>i</u>ne'', but short
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Φ φ}} ||[[phi]], {{wikt-lang|el|φι}} || {{IPAblink|pʰ}} || p as in English ''<u>p</u>ot''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p13">{{harvnb|Mastronarde|2013|page=13}}</ref>{{refn|group="note"|name="thetaphichi"}}|| {{IPAblink|f}} || f as in English ''<u>f</u>ive''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Χ χ}} ||[[Chi (letter)|chi]], {{wikt-lang|el|χι}} || {{IPAblink|kʰ}} ||c as in English ''<u>c</u>at''<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>{{refn|group="note"|name="thetaphichi"}}|| {{IPAblink|x}} before {{IPAblink|ɐ|a}}, {{IPAblink|o̞|o}}, {{IPAblink|u}};

{{IPAblink|ç}} before {{IPAblink|e}}, {{IPAblink|i}}
| ch as in Scottish ''lo<u>ch</u>'';
h as in English ''<u>h</u>ue''
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ψ ψ}} ||[[Psi (letter)|psi]], {{wikt-lang|el|ψι}} || {{IPA|[ps]}} || colspan="3"|ps as in English ''la<u>ps</u>e''<ref name="Mastronarde2013p13"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>
|-
|style="font-size:120%;"|{{lang|el|Ω ω}} ||[[omega]], {{wikt-lang|el|ωμέγα}} || {{IPAblink|ɔː}} || aw as in English ''s<u>aw</u>''<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>{{refn|group="note"|name="omegapronunciation"|The letter [[omega]] {{angbr|{{lang|el|ω}}}} is normally taught to English speakers as {{IPA|[oʊ]}}, the long o as in English ''g<u>o</u>'', in order to more clearly distinguish it from omicron {{angbr|{{lang|el|ο}}}}.<ref name="Mastronarde2013p13"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012pp56"/> This is not the sound it actually made in classical Attic Greek.<ref name="Mastronarde2013p13"/><ref name="KellerRussell2012pp56"/>}} || {{IPAblink|o̞|o}} || o as in German {{lang|de|<u>o</u>hne}}, similar to British English ''c<u>a</u>ll''
|}
|}
;Examples
{{reflist|group="ex"}}

;Notes
{{reflist|group="note"}}

Among consonant letters, all letters that denoted voiced plosive consonants ({{IPA|/b, d, g/}}) and aspirated plosives ({{IPA|/pʰ, tʰ, kʰ/}}) in Ancient Greek stand for corresponding [[Fricative consonant|fricative sounds]] in Modern Greek. The correspondences are as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2"|&nbsp;
!colspan="3"|Former [[voiced plosives]]
!colspan="3"|Former [[Plosive#Aspiration|aspirates]]
|- style="font-size: smaller;"
!Letter
!Ancient
!Modern
!Letter
!Ancient
!Modern
|-
|Labial
|{{lang|el|Β β}}
|{{IPAslink|b}}
|{{IPAslink|v}}
|{{lang|el|Φ φ}}
|{{IPAslink|pʰ}}
|{{IPAslink|f}}
|-
|Dental
|{{lang|el|Δ δ}}
|{{IPAslink|d}}
|{{IPAslink|ð}}
|{{lang|el|Θ θ}}
|{{IPAslink|tʰ}}
|{{IPAslink|θ}}
|-
|Dorsal
|{{lang|el|Γ γ}}
|{{IPAslink|ɡ}}
|{{IPAblink|ɣ}} ~ {{IPAblink|ʝ}}
|{{lang|el|Χ χ}}
|{{IPAslink|kʰ}}
|{{IPAblink|x}} ~ {{IPAblink|ç}}
|}

Among the vowel symbols, Modern Greek sound values reflect the radical simplification of the vowel system of post-classical Greek, merging multiple formerly distinct vowel phonemes into a much smaller number. This leads to several groups of vowel letters denoting identical sounds today. Modern Greek orthography remains true to the historical spellings in most of these cases. As a consequence, the spellings of words in Modern Greek are often not predictable from the pronunciation alone, while the reverse mapping, from spelling to pronunciation, is usually regular and predictable.

The following vowel letters and digraphs are involved in the mergers:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Letter !! Ancient !! Modern
|-
|{{lang|el|Η η}} ||{{IPA link|ɛː}} ||rowspan="6"|> {{IPA link|i}}
|-
|{{lang|el|Ι ι}} ||{{IPA link|i}}({{IPA|ː}})
|-
|{{lang|el|ΕΙ ει}} ||{{IPA|eː}}
|-
|{{lang|el|Υ υ}} ||{{IPA link|u}}({{IPA|ː}}) > {{IPA link|y}}
|-
|{{lang|el|ΟΙ οι}} ||{{IPA|oi}} > {{IPA link|y}}
|-
|{{lang|el|ΥΙ υι}} ||{{IPA|yː}} > {{IPA link|y}}
|-
|{{lang|el|Ω ω}}
|{{IPA link|ɔː}}
| rowspan="2" |> {{IPA link|o̞|o}}
|-
|{{lang|el|Ο ο}}
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
|{{lang|el|Ε ε}}
|{{IPA link|e}}
| rowspan="2" |> {{IPA link|e̞|e}}
|-
|{{lang|el|ΑΙ αι}}
|{{IPA|ai}}
|}

Modern Greek speakers typically use the same, modern symbol–sound mappings in reading Greek of all historical stages. In other countries, students of Ancient Greek may use a variety of [[Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching|conventional approximations]] of the historical sound system in pronouncing Ancient Greek.

=== Digraphs and letter combinations ===
Several letter combinations have special conventional sound values different from those of their single components. Among them are several [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] of vowel letters that formerly represented [[diphthong]]s but are now monophthongized. In addition to the four mentioned above ({{angbr|{{lang|el|ει}}, οι, υι}}, pronounced {{IPA|/i/}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|αι}}}}, pronounced {{IPA|/e/}}), there is also {{angbr|{{lang|el|ηι, ωι}}}}, and {{angbr|{{lang|el|ου}}}}, pronounced {{IPA|/u/}}. The Ancient Greek diphthongs {{angbr|{{lang|el|αυ}}}}, {{angbr|{{lang|el|ευ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|ηυ}}}} are pronounced {{IPA|[av]}}, {{IPA|[ev]}} and {{IPA|[iv]}} in Modern Greek. In some environments, they are devoiced to {{IPA|[af]}}, {{IPA|[ef]}} and {{IPA|[if]}}.<ref>Additionally, the more ancient combination {{angbr|{{lang|el|ωυ}}}} or {{angbr|{{lang|el|ωϋ}}}} can occur in ancient especially in [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] texts or in personal names.</ref> The Modern Greek consonant combinations {{angbr|{{lang|el|μπ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|ντ}}}} stand for {{IPA|[b]}} and {{IPA|[d]}} (or {{IPA|[mb]}} and {{IPA|[nd]}}); {{angbr|{{lang|el|τζ}}}} stands for {{IPA|[d͡z]}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|τσ}}}} stands for {{IPA|[t͡s]}}. In addition, both in Ancient and Modern Greek, the letter {{angbr|{{lang|el|γ}}}}, before another [[velar consonant]], stands for the [[velar nasal]] {{IPA|[ŋ]}}; thus {{angbr|{{lang|el|γγ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|γκ}}}} are pronounced like English {{angbr|ng}} like in the word finger (not like in the word thing). In analogy to {{angbr|{{lang|el|μπ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|ντ}}}}, {{angbr|{{lang|el|γκ}}}} is also used to stand for {{IPA|[g]}} before vowels {{IPA|[a]}}, {{IPA|[o]}} and {{IPA|[u]}}, and {{IPA|[ɟ]}} before {{IPA|[e]}} and {{IPA|[i]}}. There are also the combinations {{angbr|{{lang|el|γχ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|γξ}}}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Combination
!Pronunciation
!Devoiced pronunciation
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|ου}}}}
|{{IPAblink|u}}
|–
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|αυ}}}}
|{{IPA|[av]}}
|{{IPA|[af]}}
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|ευ}}}}
|{{IPA|[ev]}}
|{{IPA|[ef]}}
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|ηυ}}}}
|{{IPA|[iv]}}
|{{IPA|[if]}}
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|μπ}}}}
|{{IPA|[b]}} or {{IPA|[mb]}}
|–
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|ντ}}}}
|{{IPA|[d]}} or {{IPA|[nd]}}
|–
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|γκ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|γγ}}}}
|{{IPA|[ɡ]}}, [ɟ] or [ŋɡ], [ŋɟ]
|–
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|τζ}}}}
|{{IPAblink|d͡z}}
|–
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|τσ}}}}
|{{IPAblink|t͡s}}
|–
|-
|{{angbr|{{lang|el|γ}}}} in {{angbr|{{lang|el|γχ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|γξ}}}}
|{{IPAblink|ŋ}}
|–
|}

=== Diacritics ===
{{Main|Greek diacritics}}
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Greek diacritic dipthong.svg
| image2            = Greek diacritic non-diphthong.svg
| total_width       = 270
| footer            = The acute accent in {{tlit|el|aulós}} {{IPA|el|avˈlos|}} ('flute') distinguishes the word from its [[homograph]] {{tlit|el|áulos}} {{IPA|el|ˈailos|}} ('immaterial'). The smooth breathing marks the absence of an initial /h/.
}}
In the [[polytonic orthography]] traditionally used for ancient Greek and [[katharevousa]], the stressed vowel of each word carries one of three accent marks: either the [[acute accent]] ({{Big|{{lang|grc|ά}}}}), the [[grave accent]] ({{Big|{{lang|grc|ὰ}}}}), or the [[circumflex accent]] ({{Big|{{lang|grc|α̃}}}} or {{big|{{lang|grc|α̑}}}}). These signs were originally designed to mark different forms of the phonological [[pitch accent]] in Ancient Greek. By the time their use became conventional and obligatory in Greek writing, in late antiquity, pitch accent was evolving into a single [[stress accent]], and thus the three signs have not corresponded to a phonological distinction in actual speech ever since. In addition to the accent marks, every word-initial vowel must carry either of two so-called "breathing marks": the [[rough breathing]] ({{Big|{{lang|grc|ἁ}}}}), marking an {{IPA|/h/}} sound at the beginning of a word, or the [[smooth breathing]] ({{Big|{{lang|grc|ἀ}}}}), marking its absence. The letter rho (ρ), although not a vowel, also carries rough breathing in a word-initial position. If a rho was geminated within a word, the first {{lang|el|ρ}} always had the smooth breathing and the second the rough breathing ({{lang|el|ῤῥ}}) leading to the transliteration {{tlit|el|rrh}}.

The vowel letters {{angbr|{{lang|el|α, η, ω}}}} carry an additional diacritic in certain words, the so-called [[iota subscript]], which has the shape of a small vertical stroke or a miniature {{angbr|{{lang|el|ι}}}} below the letter. This iota represents the former offglide of what were originally long diphthongs, {{angbr|{{lang|el|ᾱι, ηι, ωι}}}} (i.e. {{IPA|/aːi, ɛːi, ɔːi/}}), which became monophthongized during antiquity.
[[File:Greek diacritic non-diphthong capitals.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|Use of diaeresis in the word {{tlit|el|áulos}} indicating a [[vowel hiatus]]. The acute accent is absent in the upper case.]]
Another diacritic used in Greek is the [[Double dot (diacritic)|diaeresis]] ({{big|{{lang|grc|¨}}}}), indicating a [[Hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]].

This system of diacritics was first developed by the scholar [[Aristophanes of Byzantium]] ({{circa|257|185/180&nbsp;BC}}), who worked at the [[Musaeum]] in Alexandria during the 3rd century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|pages=92–93}} Aristophanes of Byzantium also was the first to divide poems into lines, rather than writing them like prose, and also introduced a series of signs for [[textual criticism]].{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=93}} In 1982, a new, simplified orthography, known as "monotonic", was adopted for official use in Modern Greek by the Greek state. It uses only a single accent mark, the acute (also known in this context as {{tlit|el|tonos}}, i.e. simply 'accent'), marking the stressed syllable of polysyllabic words, and occasionally the diaeresis to distinguish diphthongal from digraph readings in pairs of vowel letters, making this monotonic system very similar to the accent mark system used in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]. The polytonic system is still conventionally used for writing Ancient Greek, while in some book printing and generally in the usage of conservative writers it can still also be found in use for Modern Greek.

Although it is not a diacritic, the [[comma]] has a similar function as a [[silent letter]] in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing {{wikt-lang|el|ό,τι}} ({{tlit|el|ó,ti}}, 'whatever') from {{wikt-lang|el|ότι}} ({{tlit|el|óti}}, 'that').<ref name=nicky>Nicolas, Nick. "[http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/punctuation.html Greek Unicode Issues: Punctuation] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120806003722/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/punctuation.html |date=2012-08-06 }}". 2005. Accessed 7 Oct 2014.</ref>

=== Romanization ===
{{Main|Romanization of Greek}}
There are many different methods of rendering Greek text or Greek names in the Latin script.{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=499–511}} The form in which classical Greek names are conventionally rendered in English goes back to the way Greek loanwords were incorporated into Latin in antiquity.{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=499–502}} In this system, {{angbr|{{lang|el|κ}}}} is replaced with {{angbr|c}}, the diphthongs {{angbr|{{lang|el|αι}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|οι}}}} are rendered as {{angbr|ae}} and {{angbr|oe}} (or {{angbr|æ,œ}}); and {{angbr|{{lang|el|ει}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|ου}}}} are simplified to {{angbr|i}} and {{angbr|u}}.{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=499–502, 510–511}} Smooth breathing marks are usually ignored and rough breathing marks are usually rendered as the letter {{angbr|h}}.{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=499–502, 509}} In modern scholarly transliteration of Ancient Greek, {{angbr|{{lang|el|κ}}}} will usually be rendered as {{angbr|k}}, and the vowel combinations {{angbr|{{lang|el|αι}}, οι, ει, ου}} as {{angbr|ai, oi, ei, ou}}.{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=499–511}} The letters {{angbr|{{lang|el|θ}}}} and {{angbr|{{lang|el|φ}}}} are generally rendered as {{angbr|th}} and {{angbr|ph}}; {{angbr|{{lang|el|χ}}}} as either {{angbr|ch}} or {{angbr|kh}}; and word-initial {{angbr|{{lang|el|ρ}}}} as {{angbr|rh}}.{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=510–511}}

Transcription conventions for Modern Greek{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=505–507, 510–511}} differ widely, depending on their purpose, on how close they stay to the conventional letter correspondences of Ancient Greek-based transcription systems, and to what degree they attempt either an exact letter-by-letter [[transliteration]] or rather a phonetically based transcription.{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=505–507, 510–511}} Standardized formal transcription systems have been defined by the [[International Organization for Standardization]] (as [[ISO 843]]),{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=505–507, 510–511}}<ref name="ISO843">{{cite book|title=ISO 843:1997 (Conversion of Greek characters into Latin characters)|url=https://www.iso.org/standard/5215.html|url-access=subscription|author=ISO|author-link=International Organization for Standardization|year=2010|access-date=2019-09-24|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007004912/https://www.iso.org/standard/5215.html|url-status=live}}</ref> by the [[United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Greek|url=http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_el.htm|author=UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems|access-date=2012-07-15|year=2003|archive-date=2017-10-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018235656/http://www.eki.ee/wgrs/rom1_el.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> by the [[ALA-LC romanization|Library of Congress]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Greek (ALA-LC Romanization Tables)|website=[[Library of Congress]]|url=https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/greek.pdf|year=2010|access-date=2019-09-24|archive-date=2023-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329103453/https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/greek.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and others.

{|class="wikitable"
! scope="col" | Letter
! scope="col" | Traditional Latin transliteration{{sfn|Verbrugghe|1999|pages=510–511}}
|-
| {{lang|el|Α α}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | A a
|-
| {{lang|el|Β β}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | B b
|-
| {{lang|el|Γ γ}}
| G g
|-
| {{lang|el|Δ δ}}
| D d
|-
| {{lang|el|Ε ε}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | E e
|-
| {{lang|el|Ζ ζ}}
|  style='background: #ffffe6;' | Z z
|-
| {{lang|el|Η η}}
| style='background: #ffe6e6;' | Ē ē
|-
| {{lang|el|Θ θ}}
| Th th
|-
| {{lang|el|Ι ι}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | I i
|-
| {{lang|el|Κ κ}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | C c, K k
|-
| {{lang|el|Λ λ}}
| L l
|-
| {{lang|el|Μ μ}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | M m
|-
| {{lang|el|Ν ν}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | N n
|-
| {{lang|el|Ξ ξ}}
| X x
|-
| {{lang|el|Ο ο}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | O o
|-
| {{lang|el|Π π}}
| P p
|-
| {{lang|el|Ρ ρ}}
| style='background: #ffe6e6;' | R r, Rh rh
|-
| {{lang|el|Σ σ}}/ς
| S s
|-
| {{lang|el|Τ τ}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | T t
|-
| {{lang|el|Υ υ}}
| style='background: #ffffe6;' | Y y, U u
|-
| {{lang|el|Φ φ}}
| Ph ph
|-
| {{lang|el|Χ χ}}
| style='background: #ffe6e6;' | Ch ch, Kh kh
|-
| {{lang|el|Ψ ψ}}
| Ps ps
|-
| {{lang|el|Ω ω}}
| Ō ō
|}

== History ==
=== Origins ===
{{Main|History of the Greek alphabet}}
[[File:Dipylon Inscription.JPG|thumb|[[Dipylon inscription]], one of the oldest preserved inscriptions in the Greek alphabet, {{circa|740&nbsp;BC}}]]
During the [[Mycenaean period]], between roughly the 16th and 12th centuries&nbsp;BC, a script called [[Linear B]] was used to write the earliest attested form of the Greek language, known as [[Mycenaean Greek]]. This writing system, unrelated to the Greek alphabet, last appeared in the 13th century&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Horrocks|2014|p=xviii}} Inscription written in the Greek alphabet begin to emerge from the 8th century&nbsp;BC onward. While early samples of the Greek alphabet date from at least 775&nbsp;BC,<ref>{{harvnb|Montarini|Montana|2022|pp=18-19}}; {{harvnb|Horrocks|2014|p=xviii}}; {{harvnb|Powell|2012|pp=235-236, 240}}; {{harvnb|Niesiolowski-Spano|2007|p=180}}</ref> the oldest known substantial and comprehensible Greek inscriptions, such as those on the [[Dipylon inscription|Dipylon vase]], the [[Nestor's Cup (Pithekoussai)|cup of Nestor]] and [[Acesander's cup|cup of Acesander]], date from {{circa|740}}/30 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Mannack|2019|p=31}}; {{harvnb|Colvin|2014|pp=83-84}}; {{harvnb|Rose|2012|p=96}}; {{harvnb|Powell|2012|pp=236-239}}</ref> It is accepted that the introduction of the alphabet occurred some time prior to these inscriptions.<ref group="note"> The latest archaeological discoveries function as a {{lang|la|terminus ante quem}}, with the proposed dates being placed some time earlier, see {{harvnb|Astoreca|2021|p=8}}; {{harvnb|Powell|2012|p=240}}. It is also possible that the alphabet first circulated on perishable materials, before being written on materials that can be preserved, see {{harvnb|Lopez-Ruiz|2022|p=231}}; {{harvnb|Cook|1987|p=9}}</ref> While earlier dates have been proposed,<ref>{{harvnb|Astoreca|2021|p=8}}; {{harvnb|Powell|2012|p=240}}</ref> the Greek alphabet is commonly held to have originated some time in the late 9th<ref>{{harvnb|Woodard|Scott|2014|p=3}}; {{harvnb|Horrocks|2014|p=xviii}}; {{harvnb|Howatson|2013|p=35}}</ref> or early 8th century&nbsp;BC,<ref>{{harvnb|Swiggers|1996|p=268}}; {{harvnb|Cook|1987|p=9}}; {{harvnb|Howatson|2013|p=35}}</ref> conventionally around 800&nbsp;BC.<ref name="date"/>

[[File:Nestor Cup Pithekoussai.svg|thumb|Surviving fragments of the [[Nestor's Cup (Pithekoussai)|Nestor's cup]] inscription juxtaposed with the proposed restoration, {{circa|730&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}]]
The period between the use of the two writing systems, Linear B and the Greek alphabet, during which no Greek texts are attested, is known as the [[Greek Dark Ages]].{{sfn|Colvin|2014|p=53}} The Greeks adopted the alphabet from the earlier [[Phoenician alphabet]], one of the closely related scripts used for the [[West Semitic languages]], calling it {{lang|el|Φοινικήια γράμματα}} 'Phoenician letters'.<ref>"A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language", article by Roger D. Woodward (ed. Egbert J. Bakker, 2010, Wiley-Blackwell).</ref> However, the Phoenician alphabet was limited to consonants. When it was adopted for writing Greek, certain consonants were adapted in order to express vowels. The use of both vowels and consonants makes Greek the first [[alphabet]] in the narrow sense,<ref>{{harvnb|Horrocks|2014|p=xviii}}; {{harvnb|Coulmas|1996|p=}}</ref> as distinguished from the [[abjad]]s used in [[Semitic languages]], which have letters only for consonants.{{sfn|Daniels|1996|p=4}}

[[File:NAMA Alphabet grec.jpg|thumb|Early Greek alphabet on pottery in the [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]]]]
Greek initially took over all of the 22 letters of Phoenician. Five were reassigned to denote vowel sounds: the glide consonants {{IPA|/j/}} (''[[yodh]]'') and {{IPA|/w/}} (''[[waw (letter)|waw]]'') were used for [i] (Ι, ''[[iota]]'') and [u] (Υ, ''[[upsilon]]''); the [[glottal stop]] consonant {{IPA|/ʔ/}} (''[[aleph]]'') was used for [a] (Α, ''[[alpha]]''); the [[pharyngeal consonant|pharyngeal]] {{IPA|/ʕ/}} (''[[ʿayin]]'') was turned into [o] (Ο, ''[[omicron]]''); and the letter for {{IPA|/h/}} (''[[he (letter)|he]]'') was turned into [e] (Ε, ''[[epsilon]]''). A doublet of ''waw'' was also borrowed as a consonant for [w] (Ϝ, ''[[digamma]]''). In addition, the Phoenician letter for the emphatic glottal {{IPA|/ħ/}} (''[[heth]]'') was borrowed in two different functions by different dialects of Greek: as a letter for /h/ (Η, ''[[heta]]'') by those dialects that had such a sound, and as an additional vowel letter for the long {{IPA|/ɛː/}} (Η, ''[[eta]]'') by those dialects that lacked the consonant. Eventually, a seventh vowel letter for the long {{IPA|/ɔː/}} (Ω, ''[[omega]]'') was introduced. Greek also introduced three new consonant letters for its aspirated plosive sounds and consonant clusters: Φ (''[[phi]]'') for {{IPA|/pʰ/}}, Χ (''[[Chi (letter)|chi]]'') for {{IPA|/kʰ/}} and Ψ (''[[Psi (letter)|psi]]'') for {{IPA|/ps/}}. In western Greek variants, Χ was instead used for {{IPA|/ks/}} and Ψ for {{IPA|/kʰ/}}. The origin of these letters is a matter of some debate.

<div style="float:none;">
{|class="wikitable" style="float:left;"
|-
!colspan="3"|Phoenician
!colspan="4"|Greek
|-
|[[File:Phoenician aleph.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[aleph]]
|{{IPAslink|ʔ}}
|{{GrGl|Alpha 03}}
|Α
|[[alpha]]
|{{IPAslink|a}}, {{IPAslink|aː}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician beth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[beth (letter)|beth]]
|{{IPAslink|b}}
|{{GrGl|Beta 16}}
|Β
|[[beta]]
|{{IPAslink|b}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician gimel.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[gimel]]
|{{IPAslink|ɡ}}
|{{GrGl|Gamma archaic 1}}
|Γ
|[[gamma]]
|{{IPAslink|ɡ}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician daleth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[daleth]]
|{{IPAslink|d}}
|{{GrGl|Delta 04}}
|Δ
|[[delta (letter)|delta]]
|{{IPAslink|d}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician he.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[he (letter)|he]]
|{{IPAslink|h}}
|{{GrGl|Epsilon archaic}}
|Ε
|[[epsilon]]
|{{IPAslink|e}}, {{IPAslink|eː}}<ref name="longepsilon" group="note">Epsilon {{angbr|ε}} and omicron {{angbr|ο}} originally could denote both short and long vowels in pre-classical archaic Greek spelling, just like other vowel letters. They were restricted to the function of short vowel signs in classical Greek, as the long vowels {{IPAslink|eː}} and {{IPAslink|oː}} came to be spelled instead with the digraphs {{angbr|ει}} and {{angbr|ου}}, having phonologically merged with a corresponding pair of former diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ respectively.</ref>
|-
|[[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[waw (letter)|waw]]
|{{IPAslink|w}}
|{{GrGl|Digamma oblique}}
|Ϝ
|''([[digamma]])''
|{{IPAslink|w}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician zayin.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[zayin]]
|{{IPAslink|z}}
|{{GrGl|Zeta archaic}}
|Ζ
|[[zeta]]
|[zd](?)
|-
|[[File:Phoenician heth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[heth]]
|{{IPAslink|ħ}}
|{{GrGl|Eta archaic}}
|Η
|[[eta]]
|{{IPAslink|h}}, {{IPAslink|ɛː}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician teth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[teth]]
|{{IPAslink|tˤ}}
|{{GrGl|Theta archaic}}
|Θ
|[[theta]]
|{{IPAslink|tʰ}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician yodh.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[yodh]]
|{{IPAslink|j}}
|{{GrGl|Iota normal}}
|Ι
|[[iota]]
|{{IPAslink|i}}, {{IPAslink|iː}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician kaph.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[kaph]]
|{{IPAslink|k}}
|{{GrGl|Kappa normal}}
|Κ
|[[kappa]]
|{{IPAslink|k}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician lamedh.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[lamedh]]
|{{IPAslink|l}}
|{{GrGl|Lambda 09}}
|Λ
|[[lambda]]
|{{IPAslink|l}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician mem.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[mem]]
|{{IPAslink|m}}
|{{GrGl|Mu 04}}
|Μ
|[[mu (letter)|mu]]
|{{IPAslink|m}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician nun.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[nun (letter)|nun]]
|{{IPAslink|n}}
|{{GrGl|Nu 01}}
|Ν
|[[nu (letter)|nu]]
|{{IPAslink|n}}
|}
{|class="wikitable" style="float:left;"
|-
!colspan="3"|Phoenician
!colspan="4"|Greek
|-
|[[File:Phoenician samekh.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[samekh]]
|{{IPAslink|s}}
|{{GrGl|Xi archaic}}
|Ξ
|[[xi (letter)|xi]]
|{{IPA|/ks/}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician ayin.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[ʿayin]]
|{{IPAslink|ʕ}}
|{{GrGl|Omicron 04}}
|Ο
|[[omicron]]
|{{IPAslink|o}}, {{IPAslink|oː}}<ref name="longepsilon" group="note"/>
|-
|[[File:Phoenician pe.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[Pe (Semitic letter)|pe]]
|{{IPAslink|p}}
|{{GrGl|Pi archaic}}
|Π
|[[pi (letter)|pi]]
|{{IPAslink|p}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician sade.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[ṣade]]
|{{IPAslink|sˤ}}
|{{GrGl|San 02}}
|Ϻ
|''([[San (letter)|san]])''
|{{IPAslink|s}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician qoph.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[qoph]]
|{{IPAslink|q}}
|{{GrGl|Koppa normal}}
|Ϙ
|''([[koppa (letter)|koppa]])''
|{{IPAslink|k}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician res.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[resh|reš]]
|{{IPAslink|r}}
|{{GrGl|Rho pointed}}
|Ρ
|[[rho]]
|{{IPAslink|r}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician sin.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[šin]]
|{{IPAslink|ʃ}}
|{{GrGl|Sigma normal}}
|Σ
|[[sigma]]
|{{IPAslink|s}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician taw.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[taw]]
|{{IPAslink|t}}
|{{GrGl|Tau normal}}
|Τ
|[[tau]]
|{{IPAslink|t}}
|-
|[[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|''([[waw (letter)|waw]])''
|{{IPAslink|w}}
|{{GrGl|Upsilon normal}}
|Υ
|[[upsilon]]
|{{IPAslink|u}}, {{IPAslink|uː}}
|-
|colspan="3"|–
|{{GrGl|Phi archaic}}
|Φ
|[[phi]]
|{{IPAslink|pʰ}}
|-
|colspan="3"|–
|{{GrGl|Chi normal}}
|Χ
|[[chi (letter)|chi]]
|{{IPAslink|kʰ}}
|-
|colspan="3"|–
|{{GrGl|Psi straight}}
|Ψ
|[[psi (letter)|psi]]
|{{IPA|/ps/}}
|-
|colspan="3"|–
|{{GrGl|Omega normal}}
|Ω
|[[omega]]
|{{IPAslink|ɔː}}
|}
{{clear|left}}
</div>

Three of the original Phoenician letters dropped out of use before the alphabet took its classical shape: the letter Ϻ (''[[San (letter)|san]]''), which had been in competition with Σ (''[[sigma]]'') denoting the same phoneme /s/; the letter Ϙ (''[[qoppa]]''), which was redundant with Κ (''[[kappa]]'') for /k/, and Ϝ (''[[digamma]]''), whose sound value /w/ dropped out of the spoken language before or during the classical period.

Greek was originally written predominantly from right to left, just like Phoenician, but scribes could freely alternate between directions. For a time, a writing style with alternating right-to-left and left-to-right lines (called ''[[boustrophedon]]'', literally 'ox-turning', after the manner of an ox ploughing a field) was common, until in the classical period the left-to-right writing direction became the norm. Individual letter shapes were mirrored depending on the writing direction of the current line.

=== Archaic variants ===
{{Main|Archaic Greek alphabets}}
[[File:Ancient Greek epichoric alphabets.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Distribution of "green", "red" and "blue" alphabet types, after Kirchhoff]]
There were initially numerous [[Archaic Greek alphabets|local (epichoric) variants]] of the Greek alphabet, which differed in the use and non-use of the additional vowel and consonant symbols and several other features. Epichoric alphabets are commonly divided into four major types according to their different treatments of additional consonant letters for the aspirated consonants (/pʰ, kʰ/) and consonant clusters (/ks, ps/) of Greek.{{sfn|Voutiras|2007|page=270}} These four types are often conventionally labelled as "green", "red", "light blue" and "dark blue" types, based on a colour-coded map in a seminal 19th-century work on the topic, {{lang|de|Studien zur Geschichte des griechischen Alphabets}} by [[Adolf Kirchhoff]] (1867).{{sfn|Voutiras|2007|page=270}}

The "green" (or southern) type is the most archaic and closest to the Phoenician.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}} The "red" (or western) type is the one that was later transmitted to the West and became the ancestor of the [[Latin alphabet]], and bears some crucial features characteristic of that later development.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}} The "blue" (or eastern) type is the one from which the later standard Greek alphabet emerged.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}} [[Athens]] used a local form of the "light blue" alphabet type until the end of the 5th century BC, which lacked the letters Ξ and Ψ as well as the vowel symbols Η and Ω.{{sfn|Woodard|2010|pages=26–46}}{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}} In the Old Attic alphabet, {{lang|grc|ΧΣ}} stood for {{IPA|/ks/}} and {{lang|grc|ΦΣ}} for {{IPA|/ps/}}. {{lang|grc|Ε}} was used for all three sounds {{IPA|/e, eː, ɛː/}} (correspondinɡ to classical {{lang|grc|Ε, ΕΙ, Η}}), and {{lang|grc|Ο}} was used for all of {{IPA|/o, oː, ɔː/}} (corresponding to classical {{lang|grc|Ο, ΟΥ, Ω}}).{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}} The letter {{lang|grc|Η}} (heta) was used for the consonant {{IPA|/h/}}.{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}} Some variant local letter forms were also characteristic of Athenian writing, some of which were shared with the neighboring (but otherwise "red") alphabet of [[Euboia]]: a form of {{lang|grc|Λ}} that resembled a Latin ''L'' ({{GrGl|Lambda Athenian}}) and a form of {{wikt-lang|grc|Σ}} that resembled a Latin ''S'' ({{GrGl|Sigma Z-shaped}}).{{sfn|Jeffery|1961|page=66}}

{|class="noresize wikitable"
!colspan="2"|Phoenician model
|[[File:Phoenician aleph.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician beth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician gimel.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician daleth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician he.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician zayin.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|colspan="2"  align="center"|[[File:Phoenician heth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician teth.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician yodh.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician kaph.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician lamedh.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician mem.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician nun.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician samekh.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician ayin.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician pe.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician sade.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician qoph.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician res.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician sin.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]
|[[File:Phoenician taw.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]

|-
!style="background-color:#9afa95;"|Southern
!style="background-color:#9afa95;"|"green"
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Alpha 03}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Beta 16}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Gamma archaic 1}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Delta 04}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Epsilon archaic}}
|rowspan="4"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Digamma oblique}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Zeta archaic}}
|rowspan="4"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Eta archaic}}
|rowspan="4"  valign="top" |—
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Theta archaic}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Iota normal}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Kappa normal}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Lambda 09}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Mu 04}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Nu 01}}
|rowspan="3"  valign="top" |—
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Omicron 04}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Pi archaic}}
|rowspan="4"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|San 02}}
|rowspan="4"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Koppa normal}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Rho pointed}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Sigma normal}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Tau normal}}
|rowspan="5"  valign="top" style="background-color:#9afa95;"|{{GrGl|Upsilon normal}}*
|rowspan="1"  valign="top" |—
|rowspan="1"  valign="top" |—
|rowspan="1"  valign="top" |—
|rowspan="3"  valign="top" |—
|rowspan="4"  valign="top" |—
|-
!rowspan="1" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|Western
!style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|"red"
|rowspan="1"  valign="top" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|{{GrGl|Chi normal}}
|rowspan="4"  valign="top" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|{{GrGl|Phi archaic}}
|rowspan="1"  valign="top" style="background-color:#f9d7b3;"|{{GrGl|Psi straight}}
|-
!rowspan="2" style="background-color:#d1cfff;"|Eastern
!style="background-color:#d1cfff;"|"light blue"
|rowspan="3"  valign="top" |—
|rowspan="3"  valign="top" style="background-color:#d1cfff;"|{{GrGl|Chi normal}}
|-
!style="background-color:#a39efe;"|"dark blue"
|rowspan="2"  valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Xi archaic}}
|rowspan="2"  valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Psi straight}}
|-
!colspan="2" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|Classic Ionian
| valign="top" | —
| valign="top" | —
| valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Eta normal}}
| valign="top" | —
| valign="top" | —
| valign="top" style="background-color:#a39efe;"|{{GrGl|Omega normal}}
|-
!colspan="2"|Modern alphabet
|[[Α]]||[[Β]]||[[Γ]]||[[Δ]]||[[Ε]]||—||[[Ζ]]||—||[[Η]]||[[Θ]]||[[Ι]]||[[Κ]]||[[Λ]]||[[Μ]]||[[Ν]]||[[Ξ]]||[[Ο]]||[[Pi (letter)|Π]]||—||—||[[Ρ]]||[[Σ]]||[[Τ]]||[[Υ]]||—||[[Φ]]||[[Χ]]||[[Ψ]]||[[Ω]]
|-
!colspan="2"|Sound in Ancient Greek
|a||b||g||d||e||w||zd||h||ē||tʰ||i||k||l||m||n||ks||o||p||s||k||r||s||t||u||ks||pʰ||kʰ||ps||ō
|-
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Upsilon is also derived from [[waw (letter)|waw]] ([[File:Phoenician waw.svg|x12px|class=skin-invert]]).

The classical twenty-four-letter alphabet that is now used to represent the Greek language was originally the local alphabet of [[Ionia]].{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}} By the late 5th century&nbsp;BC, it was commonly used by many Athenians.{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}} In {{circa}} 403 BC, at the suggestion of the [[Eponymous archon|archon]] [[Eucleides]], the Athenian Assembly formally abandoned the Old Attic alphabet and adopted the Ionian alphabet as part of the democratic reforms after the [[Phyle Campaign|overthrow]] of the [[Thirty Tyrants]].{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}}{{sfn|Horrocks|2010|page=xiix}} Because of Eucleides's role in suggesting the idea to adopt the Ionian alphabet, the standard twenty-four-letter Greek alphabet is sometimes known as the "Eucleidean alphabet".{{sfn|Threatte|1980|page=26}} Roughly thirty years later, the Eucleidean alphabet was adopted in Boeotia and it may have been adopted a few years previously in [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonia]].{{sfn|Panayotou|2007|page=407}} By the end of the 4th century &nbsp;BC, it had displaced local alphabets across the Greek-speaking world to become the standard form of the Greek alphabet.{{sfn|Panayotou|2007|page=407}}

=== Letter names<!--'English pronunciation of Greek letters' redirects here--> ===
When the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, they took over not only the letter shapes and sound values but also the names by which the sequence of the alphabet could be recited and memorized. In Phoenician, each letter name was a word that began with the sound represented by that letter; thus ''[[Aleph|ʾaleph]]'', the word for "ox", was used as the name for the glottal stop {{IPA|/ʔ/}}, ''[[Bet (letter)|bet]]'', or "house", for the {{IPA|/b/}} sound, and so on. When the letters were adopted by the Greeks, most of the Phoenician names were maintained or modified slightly to fit Greek phonology; thus, ''ʾaleph, bet, gimel'' became ''alpha, beta, gamma''.

The Greek names of the following letters are more or less straightforward continuations of their Phoenician antecedents. Between Ancient and Modern Greek, they have remained largely unchanged, except that their pronunciation has followed regular sound changes along with other words (for instance, in the name of ''beta'', ancient /b/ regularly changed to modern /v/, and ancient /ɛː/ to modern /i/, resulting in the modern pronunciation ''vita''). The name of lambda is attested in early sources as {{lang|grc|λάβδα}} besides {{lang|grc|λάμβδα}};<ref>{{harvnb|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v. "λάβδα"}}</ref><ref name="KellerRussell2012p5">{{harvnb|Keller|Russell|2012|page=5}}</ref> in Modern Greek the spelling is often {{lang|el|λάμδα}}, reflecting pronunciation.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> Similarly, iota is sometimes spelled {{lang|el|γιώτα}} in Modern Greek ({{IPA|[ʝ]}} is conventionally transcribed {{angle brackets|γ{ι,η,υ,ει,οι}|}} word-initially and [[intervocalic]]ally before [[back vowel]]s and {{IPA|/a/}}). In the tables below, the Greek names of all letters are given in their traditional polytonic spelling; in modern practice, like with all other words, they are usually spelled in the simplified monotonic system.
{{Listen|filename= Ell-AlphabitosUpload.ogg|title=Greek alphabet|description=The names of the letters in spoken Standard Modern Greek|format=[[Ogg]]}}

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Letter
!colspan="3"|Name
!colspan="3"|Pronunciation
|- style="font-size: smaller;"
! Greek
! Phoenician original
! English
! Greek (Ancient)
! Greek (Modern)
! English
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Α
|{{lang|el|ἄλφα}} ||''aleph'' ||alpha
|{{IPA|[alpʰa]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈalfa]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-alpha.ogg|ˈ|æ|l|f|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Β
|{{lang|el|βῆτα}} ||''beth'' ||beta
|{{IPA|[bɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈvita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|b|eɪ|t|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Γ
|{{lang|el|γάμμα}} ||''gimel'' ||gamma
|{{IPA|[ɡamma]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈɣama]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|æ|m|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Δ
|{{lang|el|δέλτα}} ||''daleth'' ||delta
|{{IPA|[delta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈðelta]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɛ|l|t|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Η
|{{lang|el|ἦτα}} ||''heth'' ||eta
|{{IPA|[hɛːta], [ɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|eɪ|t|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Θ
|{{lang|el|θῆτα}} ||''teth'' ||theta
|{{IPA|[tʰɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈθita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|θ|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|audio=En-us-theta.ogg|ˈ|θ|eɪ|t|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ι
|{{lang|el|ἰῶτα}} ||''yodh'' ||iota
|{{IPA|[iɔːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈʝota]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-iota.ogg|aɪ|ˈ|oʊ|t|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Κ
|{{lang|el|κάππα}} ||''kaph'' ||kappa
|{{IPA|[kappa]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈkapa]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-kappa.ogg|ˈ|k|æ|p|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Λ
|{{lang|el|λάμβδα}} ||''lamedh'' ||lambda
|{{IPA|[lambda]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈlamða]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-lambda.ogg|ˈ|l|æ|m|d|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Μ
|{{lang|el|μῦ}} ||''mem'' ||mu
|{{IPA|[myː]}} ||{{IPA|[mi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-mu.ogg|m|j|uː}}; occasionally {{IPAc-en|US|m|uː}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ν
|{{lang|el|νῦ}} ||''nun'' ||nu
|{{IPA|[nyː]}} ||{{IPA|[ni]}} ||{{IPAc-en|nj|uː}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ρ
|{{lang|el|ῥῶ}} ||''reš'' ||rho
|{{IPA|[rɔː]}} ||{{IPA|[ro]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-rho.ogg|r|oʊ}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Τ
|{{lang|el|ταῦ}} ||''taw'' ||tau
|{{IPA|[tau]}} ||{{IPA|[taf]}} ||{{IPAc-en|t|aʊ|,_|t|ɔː}}
|}

In the cases of the three historical sibilant letters below, the correspondence between Phoenician and Ancient Greek is less clear, with apparent mismatches both in letter names and sound values. The early history of these letters (and the fourth sibilant letter, obsolete [[San (letter)|san]]) has been a matter of some debate. Here too, the changes in the pronunciation of the letter names between Ancient and Modern Greek are regular.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Letter
!colspan="3"|Name
!colspan="3"|Pronunciation
|- style="font-size: smaller;"
! Greek
! Phoenician original
! English
! Greek (Ancient)
! Greek (Modern)
! English
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ζ
|{{lang|el|ζῆτα}} ||''zayin'' ||zeta
|{{IPA|[zdɛːta]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈzita]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|iː|t|ə}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|z|eɪ|t|ə}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ξ
|{{lang|el|ξεῖ, ξῖ}} ||''samekh'' ||xi
|{{IPA|[kseː]}} ||{{IPA|[ksi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|z|aɪ|,_|k|s|aɪ}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Σ
|{{lang|el|σίγμα}} ||''šin'' ||siɡma
|{{IPA|[siɡma]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈsiɣma]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|ɡ|m|ə}}
|}

In the following group of consonant letters, the older forms of the names in Ancient Greek were spelled with {{lang|grc|-εῖ}}, indicating an original pronunciation with ''-ē''. In Modern Greek these names are spelled with {{lang|el|-ι}}.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Letter
!colspan="2"|Name
!colspan="3"|Pronunciation
|- style="font-size: smaller;"
! Greek
! English
! Greek (Ancient)
! Greek (Modern)
! English
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ξ
|{{lang|grc|ξεῖ}}, {{lang|el|ξῖ}} ||xi
|{{IPA|[kseː]}} ||{{IPA|[ksi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|z|aɪ|,_|k|s|aɪ}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Π
|{{lang|grc|πεῖ}}, {{lang|el|πῖ}} ||pi
|{{IPA|[peː]}} ||{{IPA|[pi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|p|aɪ}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Φ
|{{lang|grc|φεῖ}}, {{lang|el|φῖ}} ||phi
|{{IPA|[pʰeː]}} ||{{IPA|[fi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|f|aɪ}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Χ
|{{lang|grc|χεῖ}}, {{lang|el|χῖ}} ||chi
|{{IPA|[kʰeː]}} ||{{IPA|[çi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-chi.ogg|k|aɪ}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ψ
|{{lang|grc|ψεῖ}}, {{lang|el|ψῖ}} ||psi
|{{IPA|[pseː]}} ||{{IPA|[psi]}} ||{{IPAc-en|s|aɪ}}, {{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-psi.ogg|p|s|aɪ}}
|}

The following group of vowel letters were originally called simply by their sound values as long vowels: ē, ō, ū, and {{IPA|ɔ}}. Their modern names contain adjectival qualifiers that were added during the Byzantine period, to distinguish between letters that had become confusable.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> Thus, the letters {{angbr|ο}} and {{angbr|ω}}, pronounced identically by this time, were called ''o mikron'' ("small o") and ''o mega'' ("big o").<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/> The letter {{angbr|ε}} was called ''e psilon'' ("plain e") to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph {{angbr|αι}}, while, similarly, {{angbr|υ}}, which at this time was pronounced {{IPAblink|y}}, was called ''y psilon'' ("plain y") to distinguish it from the identically pronounced digraph {{angbr|οι}}.<ref name="KellerRussell2012p5"/>

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Letter
!colspan="4"|Name
!colspan="3"|Pronunciation
|- style="font-size: smaller;"
! Greek (Ancient)
! Greek (Medieval)
! Greek (Modern)
! English
! Greek (Ancient)
! Greek (Modern)
! English
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ε
|{{lang|grc|εἶ}} ||{{lang|el|ἐ ψιλόν}} ||{{lang|el|ἔψιλον}} ||epsilon
|{{IPA|[eː]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈepsilon]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɛ|p|s|ᵻ|l|ɒ|n}}, some {{IPAc-en|UK|ɛ|p|ˈ|s|aɪ|l|ə|n}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ο
|{{lang|grc|οὖ}} ||{{lang|el|ὀ μικρόν}} ||{{lang|el|ὄμικρον}} ||omicron
|{{IPA|[oː]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈomikron]}} ||{{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|m|ᵻ|k|r|ɒ|n}}, traditional {{IPAc-en|UK|oʊ|ˈ|m|aɪ|k|r|ɒ|n}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Υ
|{{lang|grc|ὖ}} ||{{lang|el|ὐ ψιλόν}} ||{{lang|el|ὔψιλον}} ||upsilon
|{{IPA|[uː]}}, {{IPA|[yː]}} ||{{IPA|[ˈipsilon]}} ||{{IPAc-en|j|uː|p|ˈ|s|aɪ|l|ə|n|,_|ˈ|ʊ|p|s|ᵻ|l|ɒ|n}}, also {{IPAc-en|UK|ʌ|p|ˈ|s|aɪ|l|ə|n}}, {{IPAc-en|US|ˈ|ʌ|p|s|ᵻ|l|ɒ|n}}
|-
|style="text-align: center;"|Ω
|{{lang|grc|ὦ}} ||{{lang|el|ὠ μέγα}} ||{{lang|el|ὠμέγα}} ||omega
|{{IPA|[ɔː]}} ||{{IPA|[oˈmeɣa]}} ||{{IPAc-en|US|oʊ|ˈ|m|eɪ|ɡ|ə}}, traditional {{IPAc-en|UK|ˈ|oʊ|m|ᵻ|ɡ|ə}}
|}

Some dialects of the Aegean and [[Cypriot Greek|Cypriot]] have retained [[long consonant]]s and pronounce {{IPA|[ˈɣamːa]}} and {{IPA|[ˈkapʰa]}}; also, {{lang|el|ήτα}} has come to be pronounced {{IPA|[ˈitʰa]}} in Cypriot.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0024-3841(68)90130-7|last=Newton|first=B. E.|year=1968|title=Spontaneous gemination in Cypriot Greek|journal=Lingua|volume=20|pages=15–57|issn=0024-3841}}</ref>

=== Letter shapes ===
[[File:Gospel Estienne 1550.jpg|upright=1.15|thumb|A 16th-century edition of the New Testament ([[Gospel of John]]), printed in a renaissance typeface by [[Claude Garamond]]]]
[[File:Theocritus-Syracusanus-et-al-Lodewijk-Caspar-Valckenaer MG 0683 - detail - Greek text - Theocritus - Idyll 1.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Theocritus Idyll 1, lines 12–14, in script with abbreviations and ligatures from a caption in an illustrated edition of Theocritus. Lodewijk Caspar Valckenaer: ''Carmina bucolica'', Leiden 1779.]]
Like Latin and other alphabetic scripts, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter, without a distinction between uppercase and lowercase. This distinction is an innovation of the modern era, drawing on different lines of development of the letter shapes in earlier handwriting.

The oldest forms of the letters in antiquity are [[majuscule]] forms. Besides the upright, straight inscriptional forms (capitals) found in stone carvings or incised pottery, more fluent writing styles adapted for handwriting on soft materials were also developed during antiquity. Such handwriting has been preserved especially from [[papyrus]] manuscripts in [[Egypt]] since the [[Hellenistic period]]. Ancient handwriting developed two distinct styles: [[uncial]] writing, with carefully drawn, rounded block letters of about equal size, used as a [[book hand]] for carefully produced literary and religious manuscripts, and [[Greek cursive|cursive]] writing, used for everyday purposes.<ref name="thompson">{{harvnb|Thompson|1912|pp=102–103}}</ref> The cursive forms approached the style of lowercase letter forms, with [[Ascender (typography)|ascenders]] and descenders, as well as many connecting lines and ligatures between letters.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, uncial book hands were replaced with a new, more compact writing style, with letter forms partly adapted from the earlier cursive.<ref name="thompson"/> This [[Greek minuscule|minuscule]] style remained the dominant form of handwritten Greek into the modern era. During the [[Renaissance]], western printers adopted the minuscule letter forms as lowercase printed typefaces, while modeling uppercase letters on the ancient inscriptional forms. The orthographic practice of using the letter case distinction for marking proper names, titles, etc. developed in parallel to the practice in Latin and other western languages.

{|class="wikitable skin-invert-image"
|-
!colspan="2"|Inscription
!colspan="2"|Manuscript
!colspan="2"|Modern print
|- style="font-size: smaller;"
!Archaic!!Classical!![[Uncial]]!![[Greek minuscule|Minuscule]]!!Lowercase!!Uppercase
|-
|{{GrGl|Alpha 03}}
|{{GrGl|Alpha classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Alpha}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Alpha.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|α
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Α
|-
|{{GrGl|Beta 16}}
|{{GrGl|Beta classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Beta}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Beta.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|β
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Β
|-
|{{GrGl|Gamma archaic 1}}
|{{GrGl|Gamma classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Gamma}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Gamma.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|γ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Γ
|-
|{{GrGl|Delta 04}}
|{{GrGl|Delta classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Delta}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Delta.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|δ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Δ
|-
|{{GrGl|Epsilon archaic}}
|{{GrGl|Epsilon classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Epsilon}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Epsilon.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ε
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ε
|-
|{{GrGl|Zeta archaic}}
|{{GrGl|Zeta classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Zeta}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Zeta.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ζ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ζ
|-
|{{GrGl|Eta archaic}}
|{{GrGl|Eta classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Eta}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Eta.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|η
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Η
|-
|{{GrGl|Theta archaic}}
|{{GrGl|Theta classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Theta}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Theta.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|θ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Θ
|-
|{{GrGl|Iota normal}}
|{{GrGl|Iota classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Iota}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Iota.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ι
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ι
|-
|{{GrGl|Kappa normal}}
|{{GrGl|Kappa classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Kappa}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Kappa.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|κ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Κ
|-
|{{GrGl|Lambda 09}}
|{{GrGl|Lambda classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Lambda}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Lambda.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|λ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Λ
|-
|{{GrGl|Mu 04}}
|{{GrGl|Mu classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Mu}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Mu.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|μ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Μ
|-
|{{GrGl|Nu 01}}
|{{GrGl|Nu classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Nu}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Nu.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ν
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ν
|-
|{{GrGl|Xi archaic}}
|{{GrGl|Xi classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Xi}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Xi.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ξ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ξ
|-
|{{GrGl|Omicron 04}}
|{{GrGl|Omicron classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Omicron}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Omicron.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ο
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ο
|-
|{{GrGl|Pi archaic}}
|{{GrGl|Pi classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Pi}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Pi.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|π
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Π
|-
|{{GrGl|Rho pointed}}
|{{GrGl|Rho classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Rho}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Rho.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ρ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ρ
|-
|{{GrGl|Sigma normal}}
|{{GrGl|Sigma classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Sigma}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Sigma.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|σς
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Σ
|-
|{{GrGl|Tau normal}}
|{{GrGl|Tau classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Tau}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Tau.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|τ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Τ
|-
|{{GrGl|Upsilon normal}}
|{{GrGl|Upsilon classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Upsilon}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Upsilon.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|υ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Υ
|-
|{{GrGl|Phi 03}}
|{{GrGl|Phi archaic}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Phi}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Phi.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|φ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Φ
|-
|{{GrGl|Chi normal}}
|{{GrGl|Chi classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Chi}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Chi.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|χ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Χ
|-
|{{GrGl|Psi straight}}
|{{GrGl|Psi classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Psi}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Psi.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ψ
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ψ
|-
|{{GrGl|Omega normal}}
|{{GrGl|Omega classical}}
|{{GrGl|uncial Omega}}
|[[File:Greek minuscule Omega.svg|x30px|class=skin-invert]]
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|ω
|style="font-family:serif;font-size:larger;"|Ω
|}

== Derived alphabets ==
[[File:Marsiliana tablet.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|The earliest Etruscan [[abecedarium]], from Marsiliana d'Albegna, still almost identical with contemporaneous archaic Greek alphabets]]
[[File:Wulfila bibel.jpg|thumb|right|A page from the {{lang|la|[[Codex Argenteus]]}}, a 6th-century Bible manuscript in Gothic]]

The Greek alphabet was the model for various others:{{sfn|Coulmas|1996|p=}}
* Most of the [[Iron Age]] [[alphabets of Asia Minor]] were adopted around the same time, as the early Greek alphabet was adopted from the Phoenician. The Lydian and Carian alphabets are generally believed to derive from the Greek alphabet, although it is not clear which variant is the direct ancestor. While some of these alphabets such as [[Phrygian language|Phrygian]] had slight differences from the Greek counterpart, some like [[Carian alphabet]] had mostly different values and several other characters inherited from pre-Greek local scripts. They were in use {{Circa|800}}–300 BC until all the [[Anatolian languages]] were extinct due to [[Hellenization]].<ref>[https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/305290/Understanding%20Relations%20Between%20Scripts%20II_PrintPDF_1.pdf '''Understanding Relations Between Scripts II'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522040127/https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/305290/Understanding%20Relations%20Between%20Scripts%20II_PrintPDF_1.pdf |date=2022-05-22 }} by '''Philip J Boyes''' & '''Philippa M Steele'''. ''Published in the UK in 2020 by Oxbow Books'': "The Carian alphabet resembles the Greek alphabet, though, as in the case of Phrygian, no single Greek variant can be identified as its ancestor", "It is generally assumed that the Lydian alphabet is derived from the Greek alphabet, but the exact relationship remains unclear (Melchert 2004)"</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lycian-alphabet '''Britannica – Lycian Alphabet'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240710054253/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lycian-alphabet |date=2024-07-10 }} "The Lycian alphabet is clearly related to the Greek, but the exact nature of the relationship is uncertain. Several letters appear to be related to symbols of the Cretan and Cyprian writing systems."</ref><ref>[https://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Cari '''Scriptsource.org – Carian'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029203034/https://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Cari |date=2023-10-29 }}"Visually, the letters bear a close resemblance to Greek letters. Decipherment was initially attempted on the assumption that those letters which looked like Greek represented the same sounds as their closest visual Greek equivalents. However it has since been established that the phonetic values of the two scripts are very different. For example the theta θ symbol represents 'th' in Greek but 'q' in Carian. Carian was generally written from left to right, although Egyptian writers wrote primarily from right to left. It was written without spaces between words."</ref><ref>[https://omniglot.com/writing/carian.php '''Omniglot.com – Carian'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240827211256/https://www.omniglot.com/writing/carian.php |date=2024-08-27 }} "The Carian alphabet appears in about 100 pieces of graffiti inscriptions left by Carian mercenaries who served in Egypt. A number of clay tablets, coins and monumental inscriptions have also been found. It was possibly derived from the Phoenician alphabet."</ref><ref>[https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.31826/jlr-2019-163-405/pdf '''Ancient Anatolian languages and cultures in contact: some methodological observations'''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903211013/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.31826/jlr-2019-163-405/pdf |date=2023-09-03 }} by '''Paola Cotticelli-Kurras''' & '''Federico Giusfredi''' ''(University of Verona, Italy)'' "During the Iron ages, with a brand new political balance and cultural scenario, the cultures and languages of Anatolia maintained their position of a bridge between the Aegean and the Syro-Mesopotamian worlds, while the North-West Semitic cultures of the Phoenicians and of the Aramaeans also entered the scene. Assuming the 4th century and the '''hellenization of Anatolia''' as the '''terminus ante quem''', the correct perspective of a contact-oriented study of the Ancient Anatolian world needs to take as an object a large net of cultures that evolved and changed over almost 16 centuries of documentary history."</ref>
* The [[Latin alphabet]], together with various other [[Old Italic script|ancient scripts in Italy]], adopted from an archaic form of the Greek alphabet brought to Italy by Greek colonists in the late 8th century&nbsp;BC, via [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]];
* The [[Gothic alphabet]], devised in the 4th century to write the [[Gothic language]], based on a combination of Greek and Latin uncial models;<ref>{{harvnb|Murdoch|2004|p=156}}</ref>
* The [[Glagolitic alphabet]], devised in the 9th century for writing [[Old Church Slavonic]];
* The [[Cyrillic script]], which replaced the Glagolitic alphabet shortly afterwards.
* The [[Coptic alphabet]] adds eight letters derived from [[Demotic (Egyptian)|Demotic]]. It is still used today, mostly in Egypt, to write [[Coptic language|Coptic]], the liturgical language of Egyptian Christians. Letters usually retain an [[Uncial script|uncial form]] different from the forms used for Greek today. The alphabet of [[Old Nubian]] is an adaptation of Coptic.

The [[Armenian alphabet|Armenian]] and [[Georgian alphabet|Georgian]] alphabets are almost certainly modeled on the Greek alphabet, but their graphic forms are quite different.<ref>George L. Campbell, Christopher Moseley, ''The Routledge Handbook of Scripts and Alphabets'', pp. 51''ff'', 96''ff''</ref>

== Other uses ==

=== Use for other languages ===
Apart from the daughter alphabets listed above, which were adapted from Greek but developed into separate writing systems, the Greek alphabet has also been adopted at various times and in various places to write other languages.{{sfn|Macrakis|1996|p=}} For some of them, additional letters were introduced.

==== Antiquity ====

* It was used in some [[Paleo-Balkan languages]], including [[Thracian language|Thracian]]. For other neighboring languages or dialects, such as [[Ancient Macedonian language|Ancient Macedonian]], isolated words are preserved in Greek texts, but no continuous texts are preserved.
* [[Gaulish]] inscriptions (in modern France) used the Greek alphabet until the Roman conquest
* The [[Bactrian language]], an [[Iranian language]] spoken in what is now [[Afghanistan]], was written in the Greek alphabet during the [[Kushan Empire]] (65–250 AD). It adds an extra letter {{angbr|[[Sho (letter)|þ]]}} for the ''sh'' sound {{IPAblink|ʃ}}.{{sfn|Sims-Williams|1997|p=}}
* Derived from [[Indo-Greek]] coinage, the coins of [[Nahapana]] and [[Chastana]] of the [[Western Satraps]] featured an [[Indo-Aryan language]] legend written in Greek or pseudo-Greek letters. The subsequent rulers' coins had the Greek script degrade to a mere ornament that no longer represented any legible legend.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rapson |first=E. J. |author-link=E. J. Rapson |date=1908 |title=Catalogue of the Coins of the Andhra Dynasty, the Western Kṣatrapas, the Traikūṭaka Dynasty, and the 'Bodhi' Dynasty |url=https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit |location=London |publisher=[[Longman & Co]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit/page/n193/mode/2up cxci]–[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit/page/n197/mode/2up cxciv], [https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit/page/64/mode/2up 65]–[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit/page/66/mode/2up 67], [https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit/page/72/mode/2up 72]–[https://archive.org/details/catalogueofcoins00brit/page/74/mode/2up 75] |isbn=978-1-332-41465-9 }}</ref>

==== Middle Ages ====
* Coins from the 4th-8th centuries known as [[mordovka]]s were used as currency in Eastern Europe by [[Uralic languages|Uralic peoples]] and were written in [[Moksha language|Moksha]] using Greek uncial script.<ref>{{harvnb|Zaikovsky|1929}}</ref>
* An 8th-century [[Arabic]] fragment preserves a text in the Greek alphabet,<ref>J. Blau, "Middle and Old Arabic material for the history of stress in Arabic", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'' '''35''':3:476–84 (October 1972) [https://www.academia.edu/38210328/Joshua_Blau_Middle_and_Old_Arabic_Material_for_the_History_of_Stress_in_Arabic_Bulletin_of_the_School_of_Oriental_and_African_Studies_vol_35_no_3_1972_476_484 full text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007004910/https://www.academia.edu/38210328/Joshua_Blau_Middle_and_Old_Arabic_Material_for_the_History_of_Stress_in_Arabic_Bulletin_of_the_School_of_Oriental_and_African_Studies_vol_35_no_3_1972_476_484 |date=2024-10-07 }}</ref> as does a 9th- or 10th-century psalm translation fragment.<ref>Ahmad Al-Jallad, ''The Damascus Psalm Fragment: Middle Arabic and the Legacy of Old Ḥigāzī'', in series ''Late Antique and Medieval Islamic Near East'' (LAMINE) '''2''', Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2020; [https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/lamine/lamine2 full text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711143541/https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/publications/lamine/lamine2 |date=2021-07-11 }}; see also [[Bible translations into Arabic]]</ref>
* An [[Ossetic language|Old Ossetic]] inscription of the 10th–12th centuries found in [[Arxyz]], the oldest known attestation of an Ossetic language.
* The [[Old Nubian language]] of [[Makuria]] (modern Sudan) adds three Coptic letters, two letters derived from [[Meroitic script]], and a digraph of two Greek gammas used for the [[velar nasal]] sound.
* Various [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] dialects, similar to the modern [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Macedonian language]]s, have been written in Greek script.{{sfn|Miletich|1920|p=}}{{sfn|Mazon|Vaillant|1938|p=}}{{sfn|Kristophson|1974|p=11}}{{sfn|Peyfuss|1989|p=}} The modern South Slavic languages now use modified [[Cyrillic alphabets]].<!--see footnote in Macrakis 1996-->

==== Early modern ====
[[File:Karamanlidika title page 1784.JPG|thumb|18th-century title page of a book printed in Karamanli Turkish]]
* [[Turkish language|Turkish]] spoken by [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] (''[[Karamanlides]]'') was often written in Greek script, and called ''[[Karamanlidika]]''.
* [[Tosk]] [[Albanian language|Albanian]] was often written using the Greek alphabet, starting in about 1500.{{sfn|Elsie|1991|p=}} The printing press at [[Moschopolis]] published several Albanian texts in Greek script during the 18th century. It was only in 1908 that the [[Bitola|Monastir]] conference standardized a [[Albanian alphabet|Latin orthography]] for both Tosk and [[Gheg]]. Greek spelling is still occasionally used for the local Albanian dialects ([[Arvanitika]]) in Greece.
* [[Gagauz language|Gagauz]], a [[Turkic language]] of the northeast Balkans spoken by Orthodox Christians, was apparently written in Greek characters in the late 19th century.  In 1957, it was standardized on Cyrillic, and in 1996, a [[Gagauz alphabet]] based on Latin characters was adopted (derived from the [[Turkish alphabet]]).
* [[Surguch]], a [[Turkic language]], was spoken by a small group of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]] in northern Greece.  It is now written in Latin or Cyrillic characters.
* [[Urum language|Urum]] or Greek Tatar, spoken by Orthodox Christians, used the Greek alphabet.
* [[Judaeo-Spanish]] or Ladino, a Jewish dialect of Spanish, has occasionally been published in Greek characters in Greece.<ref>Katja Šmid, "Los problemas del estudio de la lengua sefardí", ''Verba Hispanica'' '''10''':1:113–24 (2002) [https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/VerbaHispanica/article/download/6006/5734 full text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007004916/https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/VerbaHispanica/article/download/6006/5734 |date=2024-10-07 }}: "Es interesante el hecho que en Bulgaria se imprimieron unas pocas publicaciones en alfabeto cirílico búlgaro y en Grecia en alfabeto griego."</ref>
* The Italian humanist [[Giovan Giorgio Trissino]] tried to add some Greek letters (Ɛ ε, Ꞷ ω) to [[Italian orthography]] in 1524.<ref name="Trissino">{{cite book |last1=Trissino |first1=Gian Giorgio |author1-link=Gian Giorgio Trissino |title=De le lettere nuωvamente aggiunte ne la lingua Italiana |via=Wikisource |date=1524 |url=https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/De_le_lettere_nu%CF%89vamente_aggiunte_ne_la_lingua_Italiana |access-date=20 October 2022 |language=it |archive-date=3 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903211013/https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/De_le_lettere_nu%CF%89vamente_aggiunte_ne_la_lingua_Italiana |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== In mathematics and science ===
{{Main|Greek letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering}}
Greek symbols are used as symbols in [[mathematics]], [[physics]] and other [[science]]s. Many symbols have traditional uses, such as lower case epsilon (ε) for [[Limit (mathematics)|an arbitrarily small positive number]], lower case pi (π) for the [[Pi|ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter]], capital sigma (Σ) for [[summation]], and lower case sigma (σ) for [[standard deviation]]. For many years the Greek alphabet was used by the [[World Meteorological Organization]] for [[Tropical cyclone naming#North Atlantic Ocean|naming North Atlantic hurricanes]] if a season was so active that it exhausted the regular list of storm names. This happened during the [[2005 Atlantic hurricane season|2005 season]] (when Alpha through Zeta were used), and the [[2020 Atlantic hurricane season|2020 season]] (when Alpha through Iota were used), after which the practice was discontinued.<ref>{{Cite web|date=September 21, 2020|title=2020 hurricane season exhausts regular list of names|url=https://wmo.int/media/news/2020-hurricane-season-exhausts-regular-list-of-names|publisher=World Meteorological Organization|location=Geneva|access-date=May 5, 2024|archive-date=January 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240125184508/https://wmo.int/media/news/2020-hurricane-season-exhausts-regular-list-of-names|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=WMO Hurricane Committee retires tropical cyclone names and ends the use of Greek alphabet|url=https://public-old.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-hurricane-committee-retires-tropical-cyclone-names-and-ends-use-of-greek|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231218171017/https://public-old.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/wmo-hurricane-committee-retires-tropical-cyclone-names-and-ends-use-of-greek|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 18, 2023|publisher=World Meteorological Organization|location=Geneva|access-date=May 5, 2024|date=March 17, 2021}}</ref> In May 2021 the [[World Health Organization]] announced that the [[variants of SARS-CoV-2]] of the virus would be named using letters of the Greek alphabet to avoid stigma and simplify communications for non-scientific audiences.<ref>{{Cite web|title=WHO announces simple, easy-to-say labels for SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Interest and Concern|url=https://www.who.int/news/item/31-05-2021-who-announces-simple-easy-to-say-labels-for-sars-cov-2-variants-of-interest-and-concern|access-date=2021-06-01|website=WHO|date=31 May 2021|language=en|archive-date=2021-12-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206130854/https://www.who.int/news/item/31-05-2021-who-announces-simple-easy-to-say-labels-for-sars-cov-2-variants-of-interest-and-concern|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-05-31|title=Covid-19 variants to be given Greek alphabet names to avoid stigma|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/01/covid-19-variants-to-be-given-greek-alphabet-names-to-avoid-stigma|access-date=2021-06-01|website=The Guardian|first1=Edna|last1=Mohamed|language=en|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007004910/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/01/covid-19-variants-to-be-given-greek-alphabet-names-to-avoid-stigma|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Astronomy ===
{{main|Bayer designation}}
Greek letters are used to denote the brighter stars within each of the eighty-eight [[constellation]]s. In most constellations, the brightest star is designated Alpha and the next brightest Beta etc. For example, the brightest star in the constellation of [[Centaurus]] is known as [[Alpha Centauri]]. For historical reasons, the Greek designations of some constellations begin with a lower ranked letter.

=== International Phonetic Alphabet ===
Several Greek letters are used as phonetic symbols in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA).<ref>{{cite book|title=Handbook of the International Phonetic Association|year=1999|place=Cambridge|publisher=University Press|pages=176–181}}</ref> Several of them denote fricative consonants; the rest stand for variants of vowel sounds. The glyph shapes used for these letters in specialized phonetic fonts is sometimes slightly different from the conventional shapes in Greek typography proper, with glyphs typically being more upright and using [[serifs]], to make them conform more with the typographical character of other, Latin-based letters in the phonetic alphabet. Nevertheless, in the Unicode encoding standard, the following three phonetic symbols are considered the same characters as the corresponding Greek letters proper:<ref>For chi and beta, separate codepoints for use in a Latin-script environment were added in Unicode versions 7.0 (2014) and 8.0 (2015) respectively: U+AB53 "Latin small letter chi" (ꭓ) and U+A7B5 "Latin small letter beta" (ꞵ). As of 2017, the International Phonetic Association still lists the original Greek codepoints as the standard representations of the IPA symbols in question [https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/ipa-chart] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014223507/https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/content/ipa-chart |date=2019-10-14 }}.</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
|{{IPA|β}} ||beta ||U+03B2 ||[[voiced bilabial fricative]]
|-
|{{IPA|θ}} ||theta ||U+03B8 ||[[voiceless dental fricative]]
|-
|{{IPA|χ}} ||chi ||U+03C7 ||[[voiceless uvular fricative]]
|}

On the other hand, the following phonetic letters have Unicode representations separate from their Greek alphabetic use, either because their conventional typographic shape is too different from the original, or because they also have secondary uses as regular alphabetic characters in some Latin-based alphabets, including separate Latin uppercase letters distinct from the Greek ones.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!colspan="3"|Greek letter
!colspan="3"|Phonetic letter
!Uppercase
|-
|φ||phi||U+03C6||{{IPA|ɸ}} ||U+0278 ||[[Voiceless bilabial fricative]]||–
|-
|γ||gamma||U+03B3||{{IPA|ɣ}}||U+0263||[[Voiced velar fricative]] ||Ɣ U+0194
|-
|ε||epsilon||U+03B5||{{IPA|ɛ}}||U+025B||[[Open-mid front unrounded vowel]] ||Ɛ U+0190
|-
|α||alpha||U+03B1||{{IPA|ɑ}}||U+0251||[[Open back unrounded vowel]]||Ɑ U+2C6D
|-
|υ||upsilon||U+03C5||{{IPA|ʊ}}||U+028A||[[near-close near-back rounded vowel]] ||Ʊ U+01B1
|-
|ι||iota||U+03B9||{{IPA|ɩ}}||U+0269||Obsolete for [[near-close near-front unrounded vowel]] now [[ɪ]] ||Ɩ U+0196
|}

The symbol in [[Americanist phonetic notation]] for the [[voiceless alveolar lateral fricative]] is the Greek letter lambda {{angbr|{{lang|el|λ}}}}, but {{angbr IPA|ɬ}} in the IPA. The IPA symbol for the [[palatal lateral approximant]] is {{angbr IPA|ʎ}}, which looks similar to lambda, but is actually an inverted lowercase ''y''.

=== Use as numerals ===
{{Main|Greek numerals}}
Greek letters were also used to write numbers. In the classical Ionian system, the first nine letters of the alphabet stood for the numbers from 1 to 9, the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 10, from 10 to 90, and the next nine letters stood for the multiples of 100, from 100 to 900. For this purpose, in addition to the 24 letters which by that time made up the standard alphabet, three otherwise obsolete letters were retained or revived: [[digamma]] {{angbr|Ϝ}} for 6, [[koppa (letter)|koppa]] {{angbr|Ϙ}} for 90, and a rare Ionian letter for [ss], today called [[sampi]] {{angbr|Ͳ}}, for 900. This system has remained in use in Greek up to the present day, although today it is only employed for limited purposes such as enumerating chapters in a book, similar to the way Roman numerals are used in English. The three extra symbols are today written as {{angbr|ϛ}}, {{angbr|ϟ}} and {{angbr|ϡ}}. To mark a letter as a numeral sign, a small stroke called ''[[Greek numerals#keraia|keraia]]'' is added to the right of it.

<div style="float:none;">
{|class="wikitable" style="float:left;"
|-
|Αʹ αʹ ||[[alpha]] ||1
|-
|Βʹ βʹ ||[[beta]] ||2
|-
|Γʹ γʹ ||[[gamma]] ||3
|-
|Δʹ δʹ ||[[delta (letter)|delta]] ||4
|-
|Εʹ εʹ ||[[epsilon]] ||5
|-
|ϛʹ ||''[[digamma]] ([[stigma (letter)|stigma]])'' ||6
|-
|Ζʹ ζʹ ||[[zeta]] ||7
|-
|Ηʹ ηʹ ||[[eta]] ||8
|-
|Θʹ θʹ||[[theta]] ||9
|}
{|class="wikitable" style="float:left;"
|-
|Ιʹ ιʹ ||[[iota]] ||10
|-
|Κʹ κʹ ||[[kappa]] ||20
|-
|Λʹ λʹ ||[[lambda]] ||30
|-
|Μʹ μʹ ||[[mu (letter)|mu]] ||40
|-
|Νʹ νʹ ||[[nu (letter)|nu]] ||50
|-
|Ξʹ ξʹ ||[[xi (letter)|xi]] ||60
|-
|Οʹ οʹ ||[[omicron]] ||70
|-
|Πʹ πʹ ||[[pi (letter)|pi]] ||80
|-
|ϟʹ ||''[[koppa (letter)|koppa]]'' ||90
|}
{|class="wikitable" style="float:left;"
|-
|Ρʹ ρʹ ||[[rho]] ||100
|-
|Σʹ σʹ ||[[sigma]] ||200
|-
|Τʹ τʹ ||[[tau]] ||300
|-
|Υʹ υʹ ||[[upsilon]] ||400
|-
|Φʹ φʹ ||[[phi]] ||500
|-
|Χʹ χʹ ||[[chi (letter)|chi]] ||600
|-
|Ψʹ ψʹ ||[[psi (letter)|psi]] ||700
|-
|Ωʹ ωʹ||[[omega]] ||800
|-
|ϡʹ ||''[[sampi]]'' ||900
|}

{{clear|left}}
</div>

=== Use by student fraternities and sororities ===
In North America, many college [[fraternities and sororities]] are named with combinations of Greek letters, and are hence also known as "Greek letter organizations".{{sfn|Winterer|2010|page=377}} This naming tradition was initiated by the foundation of the [[Phi Beta Kappa]] society at the [[College of William and Mary]] in 1776.{{sfn|Winterer|2010|page=377}} The name of this fraternal organization is an acronym for the ancient Greek phrase {{lang|el|Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης}} ({{transliteration|el|Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs}}), which means "Love of wisdom, the guide of life" and serves as the organization's motto.{{sfn|Winterer|2010|page=377}} Sometimes early fraternal organizations were known by their Greek letter names because the mottos that these names stood for were secret and revealed only to members of the fraternity.{{sfn|Winterer|2010|page=377}}

Different chapters within the same fraternity are almost always (with a handful of exceptions) designated using Greek letters as serial numbers. The founding chapter of each organization is its A chapter. As an organization expands, it establishes a B chapter, a Γ chapter, and so on and so forth. In an organization that expands to more than 24 chapters, the chapter after Ω chapter is AA chapter, followed by AB chapter, etc. Each of these is still a "chapter Letter", albeit a double-digit letter just as 10 through 99 are double-digit numbers. The [[Roman alphabet]] has a similar extended form with such double-digit letters when necessary, but it is used for [[ISO basic Latin alphabet#Column_numbering|columns in a table or chart]] rather than chapters of an organization.<ref>{{cite web |title=How To Switch From Letters to Numbers for Columns in Excel |url=https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/numbers-for-columns-in-excel |website=Indeed |access-date=21 November 2024}}</ref>

== Glyph variants ==
Some letters can occur in variant shapes, mostly inherited from medieval [[History of the Greek alphabet#Later developments|minuscule]] handwriting. While their use in normal typography of Greek is purely a matter of font styles, some such variants have been given separate encodings in [[Unicode]].
* The symbol {{not a typo|ϐ}} ("curled beta") is a cursive variant form of [[beta]] (β). In the French tradition of Ancient Greek typography, β is used word-initially, and {{not a typo|ϐ}} is used word-internally.
* The letter [[delta (letter)|delta]] has a form resembling a cursive capital letter D; while not encoded as its own form, this form is included as part of the symbol for the [[Modern drachma|drachma]] (a Δρ digraph) in the [[Currency Symbols (Unicode block)|Currency Symbols]] block, at U+20AF (₯).
* The letter [[epsilon]] can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped <math>\epsilon\,\!</math> ('lunate epsilon', like a semicircle with a stroke) or <math>\varepsilon\,\!</math> (similar to a reversed number 3). The symbol ϵ (U+03F5) is designated specifically for the lunate form, used as a technical symbol.
* The symbol {{not a typo|ϑ}} ("script theta") is a cursive form of [[theta]] (θ), frequent in handwriting, and used with a specialized meaning as a technical symbol.
* The symbol {{not a typo|ϰ}} ("kappa symbol") is a cursive form of [[kappa]] (κ), used as a technical symbol.
* The symbol <math>\varpi\,\!</math> ("variant pi") is an archaic script form of [[Pi (letter)|pi]] (π), also used as a technical symbol.
* The letter [[rho]] (ρ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the descending tail either going straight down or curled to the right. The symbol {{not a typo|ϱ}} (U+03F1) is designated specifically for the curled form, used as a technical symbol.
* The letter [[sigma]], in standard orthography, has two variants: ς, used only at the ends of words, and σ, used elsewhere. The form {{not a typo|ϲ}} ("[[lunate sigma]]", resembling a Latin ''[[c]]'') is a medieval stylistic variant that can be used in both environments without the final/non-final distinction.
* The capital letter [[upsilon]] (Υ) can occur in different stylistic variants, with the upper strokes either straight like a Latin ''Y'', or slightly curled. The symbol ϒ (U+03D2) is designated specifically for the curled form (<math>\Upsilon</math>), used as a technical symbol, e.g. in physics.
* The letter [[phi]] can occur in two equally frequent stylistic variants, either shaped as <math>\textstyle\phi\,\!</math> (a circle with a vertical stroke through it) or as <math>\textstyle\varphi\,\!</math> (a curled shape open at the top). The symbol {{not a typo|ϕ}} (U+03D5) is designated specifically for the closed form, used as a technical symbol.
* The letter [[omega]] has at least three stylistic variants of its capital form. The standard is the "open omega" (Ω), resembling an open partial circle with the opening downward and the ends curled outward. The two other stylistic variants are seen more often in modern typography, resembling a raised and underscored circle (roughly <sup>o̲</sup>), where the underscore may or may not be touching the circle on a tangent (in the former case it resembles a superscript omicron similar to that found in the [[numero sign]] or masculine [[ordinal indicator]]; in the latter, it closely resembles some forms of the Latin letter Q). The open omega is always used in symbolic settings and is encoded in [[Letterlike Symbols]] (U+2126) as a separate code point for backward compatibility.

== Computer encodings ==
For computer usage, a variety of encodings have been used for Greek online, many of them documented in {{IETF RFC|1947}}.

The two principal ones still used today are [[ISO/IEC 8859-7]] and [[Unicode]]. ISO 8859-7 supports only the monotonic orthography; Unicode supports both the monotonic and polytonic orthographies.

=== ISO/IEC 8859-7 ===
For the range A0–FF (hex), it follows the Unicode range 370–3CF (see below) except that some symbols, like ©, ½, § etc. are used where Unicode has unused locations. Like all ISO-8859 encodings, it is equal to ASCII for 00–7F (hex).

=== Greek in Unicode ===
{{Main|Greek script in Unicode|Greek and Coptic|Greek Extended}}

[[Unicode]] supports [[polytonic orthography]] well enough for ordinary continuous text in modern and ancient Greek, and even many archaic forms for [[epigraphy]]. With the use of [[combining character]]s, Unicode also supports Greek [[philology]] and [[dialectology]] and various other specialized requirements. Most current text rendering engines do not render diacritics well, so, though alpha with [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] and [[acute accent|acute]] can be ''represented'' as U+03B1 U+0304 U+0301, this rarely renders well: {{lang|grc|ᾱ́}}.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Anderson |first1=Deborah |title=Preliminary Guidelines to Using Unicode for Greek |url=https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/classics2-deborah-anderson-preliminary-guidelines-to-using-unicode-for-greek/#article_5 |website=Classics@ Journal |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=21 November 2024}}</ref>

There are two main blocks of Greek characters in [[Unicode]]. The first is "Greek and Coptic" (U+0370 to U+03FF). This block is based on [[ISO 8859-7]] and is sufficient to write Modern Greek. There are also some archaic letters and Greek-based technical symbols.

This block also supports the [[Coptic alphabet]]. Formerly, most Coptic letters shared codepoints with similar-looking Greek letters; but in many scholarly works, both scripts occur, with quite different letter shapes, so as of Unicode 4.1, Coptic and Greek were disunified. Those Coptic letters with no Greek equivalents still remain in this block (U+03E2 to U+03EF).

To write polytonic Greek, one may use [[combining diacritical mark]]s or the precomposed characters in the "Greek Extended" block (U+1F00 to U+1FFF).

{{Unicode chart Greek and Coptic}}
{{Unicode chart Greek Extended}}

==== Combining and letter-free diacritics ====
[[Combining diacritical mark|Combining]] and spacing (letter-free) [[diacritical mark]]s pertaining to [[Greek language]]:
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Combining!!Spacing!!Sample!!Description
|-
|U+0300||U+0060||(&nbsp;{{lang|grc|&nbsp;̀&nbsp;}})||"varia / [[grave accent]]"
|-
|U+0301||U+00B4, U+0384||(&nbsp;{{lang|grc|&nbsp;́&nbsp;}})||"oxia / tonos / [[acute accent]]"
|-
|U+0304||U+00AF||(&nbsp;̄&nbsp;)||"[[Macron (diacritic)|macron]]"
|-
|U+0306||U+02D8||(&nbsp;̆&nbsp;)||"vrachy / [[breve]]"
|-
|U+0308||U+00A8||(&nbsp;̈&nbsp;)||"dialytika / [[Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis]]"
|-
|U+0313||U+02BC||(&nbsp;̓&nbsp;)||"psili / comma above" ([[spiritus lenis]])
|-
|U+0314||U+02BD||(&nbsp;̔&nbsp;)||"dasia / reversed comma above" ([[spiritus asper]])
|-
|U+0342||||(&nbsp;͂&nbsp;)||"perispomeni" ([[circumflex]])
|-
|U+0343||||(&nbsp;̓&nbsp;)||"[[Coronis (diacritic)|koronis]]" (= U+0313)
|-
|U+0344||U+0385||(&nbsp;̈́&nbsp;)||"dialytika tonos" (deprecated, = U+0308 U+0301)
|-
|U+0345||U+037A||(&nbsp;ͅ&nbsp;)||"ypogegrammeni / [[iota subscript]]".
|}

=== Encodings with a subset of the Greek alphabet ===
[[IBM]] code pages [[Code page 437|437]], 860, [[Code page 861|861]], [[Code page 862|862]], [[Code page 863|863]], and [[Code page 865|865]] contain the letters ΓΘΣΦΩαδεπστφ (plus β as an alternative interpretation for [[ß]]).

==See also==
* [[Greek Font Society]]
* [[Greek ligatures]]
* [[Palamedes (mythology)|Palamedes]]
* [[Romanization of Greek]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group="note"}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|last=Adams|first=Douglas Q.|author-link=Douglas Q. Adams|date=1987|title=Essential Modern Greek Grammar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZMrAQAAQBAJ&q=modern+Greek+alphabet+pronunciation|location=New York City|publisher=Dover Publications|isbn=978-0-486-25133-2|access-date=2020-11-11|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007004910/https://books.google.com/books?id=aZMrAQAAQBAJ&q=modern+Greek+alphabet+pronunciation#v=snippet&q=modern%20Greek%20alphabet%20pronunciation&f=false|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Astoreca |first=Natalia Elvira |title=Early Greek Alphabetic Writing, A Linguistic Approach |year=2021 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=9781789257465}}
* {{cite book|last=Colvin|first=Stephen|year=2014|title=A Brief History of Ancient Greek|publisher=Wiley|isbn=9781405149259}}
* {{cite book|title=Greek inscriptions|last=Cook|first=B. F.|year=1987|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520061132}}
* {{cite book|title=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems|last=Coulmas|first=Florian|publisher=Blackwell Publishers Ltd.|year=1996|isbn=978-0-631-21481-6|location=Oxford}}
* {{cite book|title=The World's Writing Systems |editor-last1=Daniels |editor-first1=Peter T. |editor-last2=Bright |editor-first2=William |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780195079937}}
** {{harvc |in1=Daniels |in2=Bright |year=1996 |last=Daniels |first=Peter T. |c=The Study of Writing Systems}}
** {{harvc |in1=Daniels |in2=Bright |year=1996 |last=Swiggers |first=Pierre |c=Transmission of the Phoenician Script to the West}}
** {{harvc |in1=Daniels |in2=Bright |year=1996 |last=Threatte |first=Leslie |c=The Greek Alphabet|}}
* {{cite book|last=Dickey|first=Eleanor|date=2007|title=Ancient Greek Scholarship: A Guide to Finding, Reading, and Understanding Scholia, Commentaries, Lexica, and Grammatical Treatises, from Their Beginnings to the Byzantine Period|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116405690920|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/trent_0116405690920/page/93 93]|quote=Aristophanes of Byzantium Greek diacritics.|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-531293-5}}
* {{cite journal|last=Elsie|first=Robert|year=1991|title=Albanian Literature in Greek Script: the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth-Century Orthodox Tradition in Albanian Writing|url=http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A1991AlbLitGreek.pdf|journal=Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies|volume=15|issue=20|pages=20–35|doi=10.1179/byz.1991.15.1.20|s2cid=161805678|access-date=2011-10-30|archive-date=2020-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428032127/http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A1991AlbLitGreek.pdf|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|last=Groton|first=Anne H.|date=2013|title=From Alpha to Omega: A Beginning Course in Classical Greek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3jhwBQAAQBAJ&q=Introduction+to+Attic+Greek+Donald+J.+Mastronarde|location=Indianapolis, Indiana|publisher=Focus Publishing|isbn=978-1-58510-473-4|access-date=2020-11-11|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007004911/https://books.google.com/books?id=3jhwBQAAQBAJ&q=Introduction+to+Attic+Greek+Donald+J.+Mastronarde#v=onepage&q=Introduction%20to%20Attic%20Greek%20Donald%20J.%20Mastronarde&f=false|url-status=live}}
* {{cite thesis|last=Hinge|first=George|title=Die Sprache Alkmans: Textgeschichte und Sprachgeschichte|publisher=University of Aarhus|year=2001|type=Ph.D.}}
* {{cite book|last=Jeffery|first=Lilian H.|author-link=Lilian Hamilton Jeffery|date=1961|title=The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece: A Study of the Origin of the Greek Alphabet and Its Development from the Eighth to the Fifth Centuries B. C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3iU8nQEACAAJ|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Clarendon Press|access-date=2020-11-11|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007005021/https://books.google.com/books?id=3iU8nQEACAAJ|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|last1=Keller|first1=Andrew|last2=Russell|first2=Stephanie|date=2012|title=Learn to Read Greek, Part 1|location=New Haven, Connecticut and London, England|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-11589-5}}
* {{cite book|title=Grammatiki tis ellinikis glossas|last2=Mackridge|first2=Peter|last3=Philippaki-Warburton|first3=Irini|publisher=Pataki|year=1998|last1=Holton|first1=David|place=Athens}}
* {{cite book|last=Horrocks|first=Geoffrey|title=Greek, A History of the Language and Its Speakers |year=2014|publisher=Wiley|edition=2nd illustrated|isbn=9781118785157}}
* {{cite book|title=Ellinika: istoria tis glossas kai ton omiliton tis|last=Horrocks|first=Geoffrey|publisher=Estia|year=2006|location=Athens}} [Greek translation of ''Greek: a history of the language and its speakers'', London 1997]
* {{cite book|last=Horrocks|first=Geoffrey|date=2010|chapter=The Greek Alphabet|title=Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers|edition=2nd|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/26727256|location=Hoboken, New Jersey|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-3415-6|access-date=2018-09-29|archive-date=2020-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807071148/https://www.academia.edu/26727256/Horrocks_Greek_Language_and_its_History|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Howatson|editor-first=M.C.|title=The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature|edition=3rd reprint|year=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199548552}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|year=2003|title=The alphabet|encyclopedia=Sea Routes from Sidon to Huelva: Interconnections in the Mediterranean 16th – 6th c. B.C.|publisher=Museum of Cycladic Art|last=Johnston|first=A. W.|pages=263–276|editor1-last=Stampolidis|editor1-first=N.|editor2-last=Karageorghis|editor2-first=V|place=Athens}}
* {{cite journal|last=Kristophson|first=Jürgen|year=1974|title=Das Lexicon Tetraglosson des Daniil Moschopolitis|journal=Zeitschrift für Balkanologie|volume=10|pages=4–128}}
* {{cite book|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0057|title=A Greek-English Lexicon|last2=Scott|first2=Robert|publisher=Clarendon|year=1940|location=Oxford|last1=Liddell|first1=Henry G|access-date=2021-02-20|archive-date=2023-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924054000/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057|url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lopez-Ruiz |first=Carolina |title=Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean |year=2022 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674269958}}
* {{cite book|title=Greek letters: from tablets to pixels|last=Macrakis|first=Stavros M|publisher=Oak Knoll Press|year=1996|editor-last=Macrakis|editor-first=Michael|location=Newcastle|page=265|chapter=Character codes for Greek: Problems and modern solutions}}
* {{cite book |last=Mannack |first=Thomas |chapter=The Good, The Bad, and the Misleading: A Network of Names on (Mainly) Athenian Vases |year=2019 |editor1-last=Ferreira |editor1-first=Daniela |editor2-last=Leão |editor2-first=Delfim |editor3-last=Rodriguez-Perez |editor3-first=Diana |editor4-last=Moraiz |editor4-first=Rui |title=Greek Art in Motion |isbn=9781789690248 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing}}
* {{cite book|last=Mastronarde|first=Donald J.|author-link=Donald Mastronarde|date=2013|title=Introduction to Attic Greek|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LmdCUAW8FAYC&q=Introduction+to+Attic+Greek+Donald+J.+Mastronarde+textbook|edition=2nd|location=Berkeley, California, Los Angeles, California, and London, England|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-27571-3|access-date=2020-11-11|archive-date=2024-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007005526/https://books.google.com/books?id=LmdCUAW8FAYC&q=Introduction+to+Attic+Greek+Donald+J.+Mastronarde+textbook#v=snippet&q=Introduction%20to%20Attic%20Greek%20Donald%20J.%20Mastronarde%20textbook&f=false|url-status=live}}
* {{cite book|title=L'Evangéliaire de Kulakia, un parler slave de Bas-Vardar|last2=Vaillant|first2=André|publisher=Librairie Droz|year=1938|series=Bibliothèque d'études balkaniques|volume=6|last1=Mazon|first1=André|place=Paris}} – selections from the Gospels in Macedonian.
* {{cite journal|last=Miletich|first=L.|year=1920|title=Dva bŭlgarski ru̐kopisa s grŭtsko pismo|journal=Bŭlgarski Starini|volume=6}}
* {{cite book|last1=Montarini|first1=Franco|last2=Montana|first2=Fausto|title=History of Ancient Greek Literature|year=2022|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=9783110426328}} 
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{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{sister project links|d=Q8216|wikt=Appendix:Greek script|n=no|b=Physics_Exercises/Greek_Alphabet|v=Greek_Language/Alphabet|c=Category:Greek alphabet|s=no|q=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no}}
* [http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0370.pdf Greek and Coptic] character list in Unicode
* [http://www.unicode.org/charts/collation/ Unicode collation charts]{{snd}}including Greek and Coptic letters, sorted by shape
* [http://sites.dartmouth.edu/ellinikasimera/?page_id=29 Examples of Greek handwriting]
* {{Webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20120805221509/http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/unicode/unicode.html |date=August 5, 2012 |title=Greek Unicode Issues (Nick Nicholas)}}
* [https://www.unicode.org/faq/greek.html Unicode FAQ – Greek Language and Script]
* [http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/greek.html alphabetic test for Greek Unicode range] (Alan Wood)
* [http://www.alanwood.net/unicode/ancient-greek-numbers.html numeric test for Greek Unicode range]
* [http://kalvesmaki.com/keyboards/grc.html Classical Greek keyboard], a browser-based tool
* [https://www.greekfontsociety-gfs.gr/typefaces GFS Typefaces], a collection of free fonts by [[Greek Font Society]]

{{Greek language |1 |2 |}}
{{list of writing systems}}
{{Ancient Greece topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Greek alphabet| ]]
[[Category:Greek letters| ]]