How Greek Writing Works

The Greek alphabet is one of the oldest writing systems still in use today, with a history stretching back nearly 3,000 years. It is the script used for the modern Greek language — spoken by around 13 million people in Greece and Cyprus — and its letters appear daily in mathematics, science, and engineering worldwide.

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A Brief History

The Greek alphabet was developed around 800 BCE, adapted from the earlier Phoenician script. It was the first alphabet to include vowels as full letters, making it a true alphabet rather than an abjad (consonant-only system).

Period	Development
~800 BCE	Greeks adapt the Phoenician alphabet, adding vowels
~403 BCE	Athens adopts the Ionic variant as the standard
4th century CE	Greek becomes the script of the Byzantine Empire
Modern era	Greek letters adopted globally in maths and science

Tip: Knowing the Greek alphabet gives you a double advantage — you can read Greek text and understand mathematical notation.

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The 24 Letters

The modern Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters. Unlike Arabic or Hebrew, Greek is written and read left to right, just like English.

#	Uppercase	Lowercase	Name	Approximate Sound
1	Α	α	Alpha	"a" as in "father"
2	Β	β	Beta	"v" as in "vet"
3	Γ	γ	Gamma	"gh" (soft guttural) or "y" before "e"/"i"
4	Δ	δ	Delta	"th" as in "this"
5	Ε	ε	Epsilon	"e" as in "bed"
6	Ζ	ζ	Zeta	"z" as in "zoo"
7	Η	η	Eta	"ee" as in "see"
8	Θ	θ	Theta	"th" as in "think"
9	Ι	ι	Iota	"ee" as in "see"
10	Κ	κ	Kappa	"k" as in "kit"
11	Λ	λ	Lambda	"l" as in "lamp"
12	Μ	μ	Mu	"m" as in "map"
13	Ν	ν	Nu	"n" as in "net"
14	Ξ	ξ	Xi	"ks" as in "box"
15	Ο	ο	Omicron	"o" as in "got"
16	Π	π	Pi	"p" as in "pat"
17	Ρ	ρ	Rho	rolled "r"
18	Σ	σ/ς	Sigma	"s" as in "sun"
19	Τ	τ	Tau	"t" as in "top"
20	Υ	υ	Upsilon	"ee" as in "see"
21	Φ	φ	Phi	"f" as in "fun"
22	Χ	χ	Chi	"ch" as in German "Bach"
23	Ψ	ψ	Psi	"ps" as in "lapse"
24	Ω	ω	Omega	"o" as in "got"

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Uppercase and Lowercase

Like English, Greek has two cases: uppercase (κεφαλαία) and lowercase (πεζά). Uppercase letters are used at the start of sentences, for proper nouns, and for abbreviations. You will notice that some uppercase letters look very similar to Latin letters (A, B, E, Z, H, I, K, M, N, O, T, X), but the sounds they represent often differ.

Warning: Greek Η looks like Latin H, but sounds like "ee"!
         Greek Χ looks like Latin X, but sounds like "ch"!
         Greek Ρ looks like Latin P, but sounds like "r"!

Tip: Pay special attention to "false friends" — letters that look familiar but represent completely different sounds.

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Final Sigma

The letter Sigma has two lowercase forms:

Form	Usage	Example
σ	At the beginning or middle of a word	σοφός (sofos — "wise")
ς	At the end of a word	κόσμος (kosmos — "world")

This is the only Greek letter with a positional variant. The uppercase form (Σ) is the same regardless of position.

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Writing Direction and Style

Greek is written left to right, the same direction as English. Modern Greek uses the same punctuation marks as English with two exceptions:

Mark	Greek Usage
;	Used as a question mark (not the English ?)
·	(raised dot) Used like an English semicolon

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Greek in Modern Life

Greek is not just a language — its letters form the backbone of scientific and mathematical notation worldwide. Even if you never visit Greece, you will encounter Greek letters in:

• Mathematics: π (pi), Σ (summation), Δ (change), ∞ comes from ω
• Physics: Ω (ohms), λ (wavelength), θ (angle), μ (micro-)
• Statistics: μ (mean), σ (standard deviation), χ² (chi-squared)
• Fraternities and sororities: ΦΒΚ, ΑΔΠ, and hundreds more
• Everyday English words: alphabet (alpha + beta), delta, omega

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Summary

Feature	Detail
Number of letters	24
Writing direction	Left to right
Cases	Uppercase and lowercase
Vowels	Full vowel letters (α, ε, η, ι, ο, υ, ω)
Special note	Sigma has two lowercase forms (σ, ς)
Global usage	Maths, science, engineering, fraternities

In the following lessons, we will work through each group of letters systematically. By the end of this course, you will be able to read Greek text, recognise Greek letters in equations, and have a foundation for learning the modern Greek language.