Greek alphabet
Α α Alpha	Ν ν Nu
Β β Beta	Ξ ξ Xi
Γ γ Gamma	Ο ο Omicron
Δ δ Delta	Π π ϖ Pi
Ε ε Epsilon	Ρ ρ Rho
Ζ ζ Zeta	Σ σ ς Sigma
Η η Eta	Τ τ Tau
Θ θ Theta	Υ υ Upsilon
Ι ι Iota	Φ φ Phi
Κ κ Kappa	Χ χ Chi
Λ λ Lambda	Ψ ψ Psi
Μ μ Mu	Ω ω Omega
Obsolete letters
Ϝ ϝ Digamma	Ϻ ϻ San
Ϙ ϙ Qoppa	Ϡ ϡ Sampi
Ϛ ϛ Stigma	Ϸ ϸ Sho
diacritics

In the Greek alphabet, vowels can carry diacritics, namely accents and breathings. The accents are the acute accent (´), the grave accent (`), and the circumflex (῀). They mark the stressed syllable. The breathings are the spiritus asper (῾), marking an [h] sound at the beginning of a word, and the spiritus lenis (᾽), marking the absence of an [h] sound at the beginning of a word. The letter rho, also a vowel, when at the beginning of a word, always carries a spiritus asper. A double rho, although always in the middle of a word, was originally written with a spiritus lenis on the first rho and a spiritus asper on the second one; these are now omitted altogether. A related mark is the diaeresis marking the separate pronunciation of vowel sounds. Image File history File links Greek_alphabet_alpha-omega. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Alpha (uppercase Α, lowercase α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. ... For other uses, see Nu. ... Beta (upper case Î’, lower case β) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Look up Ξ, ξ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Gamma (uppercase Γ, lowercase γ) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Omicron (upper case Ο, lower case ο, literally small o) is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Look up Δ, δ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Pi (disambiguation) Pi (upper case Π, lower case Ï€ or Ï–) is the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. ... For the 2005 hurricane, see Hurricane Epsilon. ... Rho (upper case Ρ, lower case ρ) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Zeta (upper case Ζ, lower case ζ) is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. ... For other uses, see Sigma (disambiguation). ... Look up Η, η in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Tau (upper case Τ, lower case Ï„) is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet. ... == // == Dimensionless temperature in transport phenomena. ... Upsilon (upper case , lower case ) is the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet. ... For programming language, see Iota and Jot. ... Look up Φ, φ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Kappa (disambiguation). ... Chi (upper case Χ, lower case χ) is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Look up Λ, λ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Look up Ψ, ψ in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Mu. ... Look up Ω, ω in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Digamma (upper case , lower case ) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet, used primarily as a Greek numeral. ... San (uppercase , lowercase ) was a letter of the Greek alphabet, appearing between Pi and Qoppa in alphabetical order, corresponding in position although not in name to the Phoenician tsade. ... Qoppa Qoppa is an obsolete letter of the Greek alphabet and has a numeric value of 90. ... Sampi (Upper case Ϡ, lower case ϡ) is an obsolete letter of the Greek alphabet and has a numeric value of 900. ... Stigma is a ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau, sometimes used nowadays to represent the Greek numeral 6. ... Sho (uppercase , lowercase ) was a letter added to the Greek alphabet in order to write the Bactrian language. ... Because of technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A diacritical mark or diacritic, also called an accent mark, is a small sign added to a letter to alter pronunciation or to distinguish between similar words. ... The acute accent (  ) is a diacritic mark used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin and Greek scripts. ... The grave accent ( ` ) is a diacritic mark used in written Greek until 1982 (polytonic orthography), French, Catalan, Welsh, Italian, Vietnamese, Scottish Gaelic, Norwegian, Portuguese and other languages. ... The circumflex ( ˆ ) (often called a caret, a hat or an uppen) is a diacritic mark used in written Greek, French, Dutch, Esperanto, Norwegian, Romanian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Japanese romaji, Welsh, Portuguese, Italian, Afrikaans and other languages, and formerly in Turkish [citation needed]. It received its English name from Latin circumflexus (bent... In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis given to certain syllables in a word. ... The spiritus asper (rough breathing) or dasy pneuma (Greek: dasu, δασύ) is a diacritical mark used in Greek. ... The spiritus lenis (soft breathing) or psilon pneuma (Greek: psilón, ψιλόν) is a diacritical mark used in Ancient Greek. ... Rho (upper case Ρ, lower case ρ) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. ... Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-20, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... In linguistics, a, diaeresis, or dieresis (AE) (from Greek (diaerein), to divide) is the modification of a syllable by distinctly pronouncing one of its vowels. ...

Position on letters

The diacritics are written above lower-case letters and at the upper left of capital letters. In the case of a diphthong, the second vowel takes the diacritics. A breathing diacritic is written to the left of an acute or grave accent but below a circumflex. Accents are written above a diaeresis, or between the two dots in the case of the acute or grave. When a word is written entirely in capital letters, diacritics are never used; the word Ἢ ("or") is an exception to this rule because of the need to distinguish it from the nominative feminine article Η. Diacritics can be found above capital letters in medieval texts. The diaeresis is always written. Minuscule, or lower case, is the smaller form (case) of letters (in the Roman alphabet: a, b, c, ...). Originally alphabets were written entirely in majuscule (capital) letters which were spaced between well-defined upper and lower bounds. ... Capital letters or majuscules (in the Roman alphabet: A, B, C, ...) are one type of case in a writing system. ... In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a vowel combination in a single syllable involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ...

Historical Development

The original Greek alphabet did not have any diacritics. The Greek alphabet is attested since the 8th century BC. Until 403 BC, variations of the Greek alphabet—which used capitals exclusively—were used in different cities and areas. From 403 on, the Athenians decided to employ a version of the Ionian alphabet. With the spread of Koine Greek, a continuation of the Attic dialect, the Ionic alphabet superseded more or less quickly the other alphabets, called "epichoric". The Ionian alphabet, however, was also made up only of capitals. (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) Ruins of the training grounds at Olympia, Greece. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC 410s BC - 400s BC - 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC 350s BC Years: 408 BC 407 BC 406 BC 405 BC 404 BC - 403 BC - 402 BC 401 BC... Distribution of Greek dialects, ca. ... Koine redirects here. ... Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of the Greek language that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. ...

During the Hellenistic period, (3rd century BC), Aristophanes of Byzantium "invented" the "breathings" — marks of aspiration (the aspiration however being already noted on certain inscriptions, not by means of diacritics but by regular letters or modified letters) and the accents, of which the use started to spread, to become standard in the Middle Ages. It wasn’t until the 2nd century AD that the accents and breathings appeared sporadically in the papyruses. The need for the diacritics arose from the gradual divergence between spelling and pronunciation. (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 3rd century BC started on January 1, 300 BC and ended on December 31, 201 BC. // Events The Pyramid of the Moon, one of several monuments built in Teotihuacán Teotihuacán, Mexico begun The first two Punic Wars between Carthage... Aristophanes of Byzantium, Gr. ... (1st century - 2nd century - 3rd century - other centuries) Events Roman Empire governed by the Five Good Emperors (96–180) – Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ...

In the 9th century, the diacritics became of systematic use (together with punctuation and ligatures), and older manuscripts were corrected accordingly. Printing accelerated the process of standardization. As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was that century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... The term punctuation has two different linguistic meanings: in general, the act and the effect of punctuating, i. ... In writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more letterforms are written or printed as a unit. ... For other articles which might have the same name, see Print (disambiguation). ...

In 1982, the Greek parliament enacted a reform of the accent system by instituting the "monotonic" system: breathings were abolished and the various accents were replaced by a single accent, governed by simplified rules; the diaeresis was retained. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Hellenic Parliament (Greek: Βουλή των Ελλήνων; transliterated Vouli ton Ellinon; literally Council of the Greeks) is the parliament of Greece, located in Syntagma Square in Athens. ... Monotonic orthography is the simplified way for spelling modern Greek introduced in 1982. ...