GREEK LETTERS

Learn the names of Greek letters not just the obvious ones like alpha,beta, and pi, but the more obscure psi, xi, tau, omega. [. . . ] Learn not justto recognize these letters, but how to pronounce them. Even if you are notreading mathematics out loud, it is hard to think about formulas if , , , , are all squiggles to you. J. Hubbard

Below is a table of the Greek alphabetical order, with pronunciation guides for the letternames and sounds that match how mathematicians pronounce them in English. This is notalways the same as Greek pronunciation, e.g., the sound of the letter in modern Greekis v rather than b, so o is Greek for volt, not bolt. If Greek borrows a foreign wordwith a b sound in it, they transcribe that sound using the two-letter combination , sobarbershop is o = barberiko and blues (the musical style) is o. (Comparewith Greeks single letter where English uses two letters th. If your alphabet doesnt havea letter representing the sound you need, you have to improvise.)

Letter Name SoundA (alpha) aB (beta) b (gamma) g (delta) dE o (epsilon) eZ (zeta) zH (eta) ee (theta) thI (iota) iK (kappa) k (lambda) lM (mu) mN (nu) n (xi) ksOo oo (omicron) o (pi) pP (rho) r (sigma) sT (tau) t o (upsilon) oo (phi) fX (chi) kh (or h) (psi) ps (omega) o

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2 GREEK LETTERS

Gain familiarity with the Greek letters by figuring out how to pronounce each Greekword below. Its meaning is in the next column over. The words are in Greek alphabeticalorder across the rows. Some of the words are loan words from English rather than nativeGreek words.

Once you get used to the letters, youll see a lot of the words in the table are really thesame in Greek and English, but a few words have been included where the Greek is only aroot for words in English (like Greek for heart and wood.) Try hiding the English andsee if you can figure out the Greek words by themselves. (Note: (omega) is o, not w!! Forinstance, o is not wkeanografia, but rather okeanografia = oceanography.)

Greek Translation Greek Translation Greek Translation aroma oo atom o booko basic Bo Boston geometry language French o democracyo tooth energy E Greek ego o animal o zodiac ethics o electric echoo helium theorem oo theology theory o (hi)story idea heart o catastrophe lampoo logic madness o music beer o nerve o new

o nostalgia N sneaker goddess o woodoo xenophobia o eight oo nameo pentagon o problem Plato

o rock (music) oo rhetorical rhapsody o mouth sex o seismico triangle o square tragedy hypnosis ooo hydrogen o fearo leaf chemistry -o hip-hopo chous color soul

o pseudonym hour Orion

Uses of Greek letters in mathematics can be found athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek letters used in mathematics%2C science%2C and engineering