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The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Like Latin and Cyrillic, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter; it developed the letter case distinction between uppercase and lowercase in parallel with Latin during the modern era.
- Overview
- Classical Greek alphabet
- Classical Greek numerals
- Modern Greek alphabet
The Greek alphabet is a writing system that was developed in Greece about 1000 BCE. It is the direct or indirect ancestor of all modern European alphabets. It was derived from the North Semitic alphabet via that of the Phoenicians.
How is the Greek alphabet used today?
The Greek alphabet is still used for the Greek language today. The letters of the Greek alphabet are now also used as symbols for concepts in equations of the interrelated fields of mathematics and science—for example, the lowercase alpha (⍺) can be used to represent an angle in mathematics.
Is the Greek alphabet the same as the Cyrillic alphabet?
The Greek alphabet is not the same as the Cyrillic alphabet. But the Cyrillic alphabet was heavily based upon the Greek alphabet, so the two writing systems resemble each other. The Cyrillic alphabet was created during the Middle Ages, and it includes additional letters to account for the sounds which Slavic languages use that aren’t present in Greek. The Cyrillic alphabet is now also used for non-Slavic languages, such as Kyrgyz and Tajik.
Why was the Greek alphabet a significant development?
The table indicates the Classical Greek alphabet.
The table indicates the Classical Greek numerals.
The table indicates the Modern Greek alphabet.
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- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Cyrillic script is derived from the Greek uncial script letters, augmented by ligatures and consonants from the older Glagolitic alphabet for sounds not found in Greek.
Where does the word alphabet come from? When was the Latin-Turkish alphabet introduced? Is the Greek alphabet the same as the Cyrillic alphabet? Why was the Greek alphabet a significant development?
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Aug 1, 2023 · All later alphabets, the Latin or Cyrillic or the International Phonetic Alphabet, are modifications of the Greek alphabet, having the same internal structure. (3)
- Joshua J. Mark
- The Greek alphabet was invented c. 8th century BCE.
- The Greek alphabet was derived from the Phoenician script of 22 characters without vowels. The Greek alphabet added vowels and two letters bringing...
- The Greek alphabet is so-called from the first two characters in the system: alpha (A) and beta (B).
- The Greek alphabet allowed for the development of Greek culture on every level. It was adopted by the Etruscans, who then transmitted it to the Rom...
May 5, 2022 · What does the Cyrillic alphabet look like today? You might notice that several Cyrillic letters look and sound extremely similar to letters in the Latin alphabet. This is because both alphabets borrowed some letters from Greek!
When the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet to write their language they used five of the Phoenician consonants to represent vowel sounds: yodh (𐤉) [j] became Ι (iota), waw (𐤅) [w] became Υ (upsilon), 'aleph (𐤀) [ʔ] became Α (alpha), 'ayin (𐤏) [ʕ] became Ο (omicron), and he (𐤄) [h] became Ε (epsilon).
