The Greek Alphabet

UC = upper case, LC = lower case, RE = Roman equivalent

	UC	LC	RE	Name	Pronunciation
1	Α	α	a	alpha	al-fuh
2	Β	β	b	beta	bee-tuh, bay-tuh
3	Γ	γ	g	gamma	ga-muh
4	Δ	δ	d	delta	del-tuh
5	Ε	ε	e	epsilon	ep-sih-lon
6	Ζ	ζ	z	zeta	zee-tuh, zay-tuh
7	Η	η	e or ē (ay)	eta	ee-tuh
8	Θ	θ	th	theta	thee-tuh, thay-tuh
9	Ι	ι	i	iota	i-yo-tuh
10	Κ	κ	k	kappa	ka-puh
11	Λ	λ	l	lambda	lam-duh
12	Μ	μ	m	mu	myoo
13	Ν	ν	n	nu	nyoo, noo
14	Ξ	ξ	x	xi	ksi, gzi, sai or zai
15	Ο	ο	o	omicron	omi-kron
16	Π	π	p	pi	pie
17	Ρ	ρ	r or rh	rho	row (of seats)
18	Σ	σ	s	sigma	sig-muh
19	Τ	τ	t	tau	like tow- in towel
20	Υ	υ	u	upsilon	up-sih-lon
21	Φ	φ	ph or f	phi	fi (like in fire)
22	Χ	χ	kh	chi	ki (like in kite)
23	Ψ	ψ	ps	psi	sigh
24	Ω	ω	ō	omega	o-meguh, omeh-guh

Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω

α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ς σ τ υ φ χ ψ ω

The alphabet as we know it is not the only one out there!  Our one is called the Roman alphabet, but there are many other major alphabets in the world.  The Greek alphabet is used in Greece, but also in science and maths.  These academic disciplines use Greek letters for three reasons:

· They need letters to represent quantities in equations, and there the 26 available in the Roman alphabet just aren’t enough

· Most of the people who invented science were educated at a time when everyone learned Greek and used at school as a way of showing off that they were educated.  When they needed extra letters to put in their equations, the obvious choice was the Greek alphabet

· Greek letters are fairly similar to Roman letters, so they’re easy to remember.  Well, not easy, but not as difficult to write as Chinese letters: 乗举亂亸狦獶鏖