The Greek alphabet has 24 letters and is the oldest alphabetic script still in continuous use, dating back over 2,700 years. It is written left-to-right and is the ancestor of both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets.
The 24 Greek letters
| Uppercase | Lowercase | Name | English | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Α | α | Alpha | a | a (father) |
| Β | β | Beta | b | v (modern), b (ancient) |
| Γ | γ | Gamma | g | y (year) before i/e |
| Δ | δ | Delta | d | th (this) |
| Ε | ε | Epsilon | e | e (bet) |
| Ζ | ζ | Zeta | z | z |
| Η | η | Eta | ē | i (machine) |
| Θ | θ | Theta | th | th (thin) |
| Ι | ι | Iota | i | i |
| Κ | κ | Kappa | k | k |
| Λ | λ | Lambda | l | l |
| Μ | μ | Mu | m | m |
| Ν | ν | Nu | n | n |
| Ξ | ξ | Xi | x | x (box) |
| Ο | ο | Omicron | o | o (short) |
| Π | π | Pi | p | p |
| Ρ | ρ | Rho | r | r (rolled) |
| Σ | σ / ς | Sigma | s | s (ς only at word end) |
| Τ | τ | Tau | t | t |
| Υ | υ | Upsilon | y / u | i (modern) |
| Φ | φ | Phi | ph | f |
| Χ | χ | Chi | ch / kh | ch (loch) |
| Ψ | ψ | Psi | ps | ps |
| Ω | ω | Omega | ō | o (long) |
Typing the Greek alphabet
Type Greek on the online Greek keyboard. On a physical keyboard the layout maps Greek letters onto English positions: a→α, b→β, g→γ, o→ο, v→ω, w→ς. Hold Shift for capitals. This is the standard Greek (220) layout used in Greece and Cyprus.
Greek letters in science
Greek letters are everywhere in mathematics and physics: π for pi, Σ for summation, Ω for ohms, λ for wavelength, θ for angles and μ for the micro prefix. You can look up each symbol in the Greek character explorer.