Greek alphabet

American  

noun

1. the alphabetic script derived from a Semitic alphabet by way of the Phoenicians, used from about the 8th century b.c. for the writing of Greek, and forming the basis of many other scripts, including Latin and Cyrillic. The letters of the Greek alphabet are: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega.

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Etymology

Origin of Greek alphabet

First recorded in 1730–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Greek alphabet

Its name comes from the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet, which means that pi also has its own symbol – 𝜋.

From NewsForKids.net ● Mar. 14, 2024

Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, was chosen for the project’s name to imply “the last word” in stylish design.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2023

When variants of the virus mutated and evolved into new strains with significant advantages over old lineages, the WHO began giving these "variants of concern" names from the Greek alphabet.

From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2023

It follows last year's third most active season on record and 2020's most active season on record when all pre-determined names were exhausted with the Greek alphabet needing to be used.

From BBC ● May 24, 2022

The Iliad and Odyssey were composed and transmitted by nonliterate bards for nonliterate listeners, and not committed to writing until the development of the Greek alphabet hundreds of years later.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond