The Greek alphabet reference thread

Not 100% sure whether this belongs here or not…anyway, I see a lot of people (myself included) who are quite fond of the symbol font. I thought I might run through the Greek alphabet for anyone who might be interested. The pronunciations I’m giving are the English pronunciations I learned from classical Greek, and they’re very different from what’s found in modern Greek.


symbol  keystroke  name     Pronunciation
**[sym]A[/sym]**          A      Alpha        Short 'a', as in "bat"
**[sym]B[/sym]**          B      Beta         'b', as in "bat"
**[sym]G[/sym]**          G      Gamma        'g' as in "good"
**[sym]D[/sym]**          D      Delta        'd' as in "dog"
**[sym]E[/sym]**          E      Epsilon      'e' as in "bet"
**[sym]Z[/sym]**          Z      Zeta         'z' as in "Bizarro"
**[sym]H[/sym]**          H      Eta          Long 'a' as in "fate"
**[sym]Q[/sym]**          Q      Theta        'th' as in "thing"
**[sym]I[/sym]**          I      Iota         'i' as in "bit"
**[sym]K[/sym]**          K      Kappa        'k' as in "kite"
**[sym]L[/sym]**          L      Lambda       'l' as in "look"
**[sym]M[/sym]**          M      Mu           'm' as in "move"
**[sym]N[/sym]**          N      Nu           'n' as in "no"
**[sym]X[/sym]**          X      Xi           'x' as in "sex", even at the beginning of a word
**[sym]O[/sym]**          O      Omicron      Short 'o' as in "bottle"
**[sym]P[/sym]**          P      Pi           'p' as in "pie"
**[sym]R[/sym]**          R      Rho          'r' as in "rose"
**[sym]S[/sym]**          S      Sigma        's' as in "sell"
**[sym]T[/sym]**          T      Tau          't' as in "type"
**[sym]U[/sym]**          U      Upsilon      'u' as in boot
**[sym]F[/sym]**          F      Phi          'f' as in fearless
**[sym]C[/sym]**          C      Chi          'k' as in "kite"
**[sym]Y[/sym]**          Y      Psi          'ps' as in "corpse", even at the beginning of a word
**[sym]W[/sym]**          W      Omega        Long 'o' as in "quote"

Of course, the letters below are pronounced as those above, with one noted exception. Also, I realize that linguists would cringe at my description of long and short vowels, but I think that’s pretty close to what everyone else knows.


symbol  keystroke  name
**[sym]a[/sym]**          a      alpha
**[sym]b[/sym]**          b      beta
**[sym]g[/sym]**          g      gamma
**[sym]d[/sym]**          d      delta
**[sym]e[/sym]**          e      epsilon
**[sym]z[/sym]**          z      zeta
**[sym]h[/sym]**          h      eta
**[sym]q[/sym]**          q      theta
**[sym]i[/sym]**          i      iota
**[sym]k[/sym]**          k      kappa
**[sym]l[/sym]**          l      lambda
**[sym]m[/sym]**          m      mu
**[sym]n[/sym]**          n      nu
**[sym]x[/sym]**          x      xi
**[sym]o[/sym]**          o      omicron
**[sym]p[/sym]**          p      pi
**[sym]r[/sym]**          r      rho
**[sym]V[/sym]**          V      terminal sigma (used at the end of a word)
**[sym]s[/sym]**          s      sigma
**[sym]t[/sym]**          t      tau
**[sym]u[/sym]**          u      upsilon
**[sym]f[/sym]**          f      phi
**[sym]c[/sym]**          c      chi
**[sym]y[/sym]**          y      psi
**[sym]w[/sym]**          w      omega

There it is, folks. Have fun.

Looks good! You might mention how you need to type [ symbol ] [ /symbol ]. I know the info is in the forum today, but these things tend to get separated.

Or better yet, mention how you need to type [sym] and [/sym] around the characters you want to convert. :smiley:

I thought the tag was on the vB code explanation page. It hasn’t made it yet, so when you guys get a moment, you may want to add that.

Good thread, ultrafilter! I would like to add, though, that I don’t know how “Bizarro” is pronounced, but if it’s similar to “bizarre”, I learned the pronunciation of [sym]z[/sym] differently than you did. I’ve always said it “dz”, like in “gadzooks”.

It’s certainly possible. Was this in classical Greek, or modern? Cause I think it is pronounced that way in modern Greek (although it’s been quite some time since I studied that).

This was classical Greek. I have no idea how modern Greek is pronounced, and I’m worried that if I learn it, I’ll just get confused. I checked the textbooks I used, A New Introduction to Greek and Athenaze. The former says it’s either like “dz” in “adze” or “zd” in “glaz’d”. The latter says it’s like “sd” in “wisdom”. Honestly, though, I’m not sure exactly how much stock I put in scholars’ ability to determine just how Ancient Greek was (or should be) pronounced.