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

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

The WHO names these variants using Greek alphabet letters, like alpha, delta and omicron.

From Salon • Sep. 14, 2023

The unofficial nickname may follow on from the WHO convention of using letters of the Greek alphabet to assign, "simple, easy-to-say labels" for key variants.

From BBC • Aug. 10, 2023

One of his envious contemporaries called him “Beta,” the second letter of the Greek alphabet, because, he said, Eratosthenes was second best in the world in everything.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan