Greek alphabet

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The Greek alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Greek language since about the 9th century BC. It was the first true alphabet, that is, an alphabet with a symbol for each vowel and consonant, and is the oldest alphabetic script in use today. The letters are also used to represent numbers — Greek numerals — in the same sorts of contexts as Roman numerals. Besides writing modern Greek, today its letters are used as mathematical symbols, particle names in physics, as names of stars, in the names of fraternities and sororities, in the naming of supernumerary tropical cyclones and for other purposes.

The Greek alphabet originated as a modification of the Phoenician alphabet and in turn gave rise to the Gothic, Glagolitic, Cyrillic, Coptic and possibly the Armenian alphabets, as well as the Latin alphabet, as documented in History of the alphabet. The Greek alphabet is unrelated to Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, earlier writing systems for Greek.

The Modern Greek Alphabet

The Greek alphabet consists of the following 24 letters, some of which have changed pronounciation since antiquity:
Α α - alpha
Β β - beta
Γ γ - gamma
Δ δ - delta
Ε ε - epsilon
Ζ ζ - zeta
Η η - eta
Θ θ - theta
Ι ι - iota
Κ κ - kappa
Λ λ - lambda
Μ μ - mi
Ν ν - ni
Ξ ξ - ksi
Ο ο - omicron
Π π - pi
Ρ ρ - rho
Σ σ ς - sigma
Τ τ - tau
Υ υ - Ypsilon
Φ φ - phi
Χ χ - chi
Ψ ψ - psi
Ω ω - omega


A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia. Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL)