Greek orthography

The orthography of the modern Greek language was standardised in 1976 and simplified the diacritics in 1982. There are relatively few differences between the orthography of Ancient Greek and Modern Greek.

Some time prior to that, one early form of Greek, Mycenaean, was written in Linear B, although there was a lapse of several centuries (the Greek Dark Ages) between the time Mycenaean stopped being written and the time when the Greek alphabet came into use.

Early Greek writing in the Greek alphabet was phonemic, different in each dialect. Since the adoption of the Ionic variant for Attic in 403 BC, however, Greek orthography has been largely conservative and historical.

Given the phonetic development of Greek, especially in the Hellenistic period, certain modern vowel phonemes have multiple orthographic realizations:

/i/ can be spelled η, ι, υ, ει, οι, or υι (see Iotacism);
/e/ can be spelled either ε or αι;
/o/ can be spelled either ο or ω.

This affects not only lexical items but also inflectional affixes, so correct orthography requires mastery of formal grammar, e.g. η καλή /i kaˈli/ 'the good one (fem. sing.)' vs. οι καλοί /i kaˈli/ 'the good ones (masc. pl.)'; καλώ /kaˈlo/ 'I call' vs. καλό /kaˈlo/ 'good (neut. sing.)'.

Similarly, the orthography preserves ancient doubled consonants, though these are now pronounced the same as single consonants, except in Cypriot Greek.

Letter	Name	Ancient pronunciation	Modern pronunciation		Transliteration Ancient Greek	Transliteration Modern Greek
Letter	Name	IPA	IPA		ALA-LC (2010)	ELOT 743, 2nd ed. (Type 1 - transliteration) (2001)
Α α	álpha, άλφα	Short: [a] Long: [aː]	[a]		a
Β β	bēta, βήτα	[b]	[v]		b	v
Γ γ	gámma, γάμμα	[ɡ]	[ɣ] before [a], [o], [u]	[ʝ] before [e], [i]	g	g
Γ γ	gámma, γάμμα	[ŋ] when used before γ, κ, ξ, χ, and possibly μ	[ŋ]	[ɲ]	n	g
Δ δ	délta, δέλτα	[d]	[ð]		d	d
Ε ε	épsilon, έψιλον	[e]			e
Ζ ζ	zēta, ζήτα	[zd] or [dz]	[z]		z	z
Η η	ēta, ήτα	[ɛː]	[i]		ē	ī
Θ θ	thēta, θήτα	[t̪ʰ]	[θ]		th	th
Ι ι	iōta, ιώτα	Short: [i] Long: [iː]	often [i], when with "ι" can be [ç], [ʝ], [ɲ]		i
Κ κ	káppa, κάππα	[k]	[k] before [a], [o], [u] and consonant	[c] before [e], [i]	k	k
Λ λ	lámbda, lámda, lábda, λάμβδα, λάμδα, λάβδα	[l]			l
Μ μ	my, μυ	[m]			m
Ν ν	ny, νυ	[n]			n
Ξ ξ	xi, ξι	[ks]			x
Ο ο	ómikron, όμικρον	[o]			o
Π π	pi, πι	[p]			p
Ρ ρ	ro, ρο	[r] ~ [ɾ]			r
Σ σ/ς	sígma, σίγμα	[s] [z] before β, γ, or μ			s
Τ τ	tau, ταυ	[t]			t
Υ υ	ýpsilon, ύψιλον	Short: [y] Long: [yː]	[i]		y	y
Φ φ	phi, φι	[pʰ]	[f]		ph	f
Χ χ	khi, χι	[kʰ]	[x] before [a], [o], [u] and consonant	[ç] before [e], [i]	ch	ch
Ψ ψ	psi, ψι	[ps]			ps
Ω ω	ōméga, ωμέγα	[ɔː]	[o]		ō	ō

Examples

↑ For example, εγγραφή.
↑ For example, εγγεγραμμένος.
↑ For example, πάπια.
↑ For example, βια.
↑ For example, μια.

Notes

↑ The letter Λ is almost universally known today as lambda (λάμβδα) except in Modern Greek and in Unicode, where it is lamda (λάμδα), and the most common name for it during the Greek Classical Period (510–323 BC) appears to have been labda (λάβδα), without the μ.
↑ The letter sigma ⟨Σ⟩ has two different lowercase forms in its standard variant, with ⟨ς⟩ being used in word-final position and ⟨σ⟩ elsewhere. In some 19th-century typesetting, ⟨ς⟩ was also used word-medially at the end of a compound morpheme, e.g. δυςκατανοήτων, marking the morpheme boundary between δυς-κατανοήτων ('difficult to understand'); modern standard practice is to spell δυσκατανοήτων with a non-final sigma.

[6] For example, εγγραφή.

[7] For example, εγγεγραμμένος.

[8] For example, πάπια.

[9] For example, βια.

[10] For example, μια.

[lambdaorlabda-11] The letter Λ is almost universally known today as lambda (λάμβδα) except in Modern Greek and in Unicode, where it is lamda (λάμδα), and the most common name for it during the Greek Classical Period (510–323 BC) appears to have been labda (λάβδα), without the μ.

[nicholas_finalsigma-15] The letter sigma ⟨Σ⟩ has two different lowercase forms in its standard variant, with ⟨ς⟩ being used in word-final position and ⟨σ⟩ elsewhere. In some 19th-century typesetting, ⟨ς⟩ was also used word-medially at the end of a compound morpheme, e.g. δυςκατανοήτων, marking the morpheme boundary between δυς-κατανοήτων ('difficult to understand'); modern standard practice is to spell δυσκατανοήτων with a non-final sigma.