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Pronunciation of the Greek alphabet in English

Greek letters are widely used in mathematics and other fields of science. There are a couple of differences in pronunciation of the names of the letters between English and most other European languages, which is a common source of mistakes. That's why in the following, I used a notation for pronunciation that should be easy to understand for non-native speakers, but native speakers should do just fine too.

Especially common mistakes are the names of ι, μ, ν (which are not pronounced as yoh-tə, mee, and nee, respectively). Also, notice that ξ, π, φ, χ, and ψ are pronounced with “eye” at the end, not “ee”:

αalphaæl-fə
βbetabee-tə (UK), bei-tə (US)
γgamma-mə
δdeltadel-tə
εepsiloneps-ill-ən or ep-sigh-lonn (UK), eps-ill-aan (US)
ζzetazee-tə (UK), in the US more commonly zei-tə
ηetaee-tə (UK), in the US more commonly ei-tə
θthetathee-tə or thei-tə (in the US; both with 'th' as in think)
ιiota – eye-oh-tə
κkappa-pə
λlambdalæm-də
μmumyoo
νnunyoo
ξxiksaai (as in “sick sigh”) or zaai
οomicron – oh-my-kronn (UK), aa-mə-kraan or oh-mə-kraan (US)
πpipaai (the same as pie)
ρrhoroh (rhymes with go)
σsigmasig-mə
τtautaa'u (rhyming with cow) or taw (rhyming with saw)
υupsilon“ups” as oops, ʌps or yoops, “ilon” as ill-on or I'll-ən
φphifaai (as in “identify”)
χchikaai (as in “kite”)
ψpsipsaai (as in top side) or saai (as in “side”)
ωomegaoh-meg-ə or oh-mɪ-gə
(UK), oh-mey-gə or oh-meg(US)
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Comments
Jakub 1d
Did you know that you can click on the letters to see more information about them?
Pavla 1d
Jakub, great article, I would like to save it so I can return to it. Will it be possible to save favorite articles? Thank you for the inspiring work.
Jakub 1d
Yes, this will be possible. It's one of the functionalities I am working on.