Greek spelling alphabet

The Greek spelling alphabet is a spelling alphabet (or "phonetic alphabet") for Greek, i.e. a set of names given to the alphabet letters for the purpose of spelling out words. It is used by the Greek State, the Greek army, the navy and the police.

Motivation

The names for Greek letters are easily confused in noisy conditions; potential collisions include:

• beta, zeta, eta, theta
• epsilon, upsilon
• mu, nu
• pi, xi, phi, chi, psi

Also the names 'alpha' and 'delta' are avoided to not be confused with the NATO alphabet.

The spelling alphabet

Letter	letter name	spelling name	meaning of word
Α	alpha	αστήρ	astír ('star')
Β	beta	Βύρων	Výron ('Byron')
Γ	gamma	γαλή	galí ('cat')
Δ	delta	δόξα	dóxa ('glory')
Ε	epsilon	Ερμής	Ermís ('Hermes')
Ζ	zeta	Ζεύς	Zeús ('Zeus')
Η	eta	Ηρώ	Iró ('Hero')
Θ	theta	θεά	theá ('goddess')
Ι	iota	ίσκιος	ískios ('shadow')
Κ	kappa	κενό	kenó ('blank')
Λ	lambda	λάμα	láma ('blade')
Μ	mu	μέλι	méli ('honey')
Ν	nu	ναός	naós ('church')
Ξ	xi	Ξέρξης	Xérxis ('Xerxes')
Ο	omicron	οσμή	osmí ('smell')
Π	pi	Πέτρος	Pétros ('Peter')
Ρ	rho	ρήγας	rígas ('king')
Σ	sigma	σοφός	sofós ('wise')
Τ	tau	τίγρης	tígris ('tiger')
Υ	ipsilon	ύμνος	ímnos ('hymn')
Φ	phi	φώκια	fókia (the animal seal)
Χ	chi	χαρά	hará ('joy')
Ψ	psi	ψυχή	psihí ('soul')
Ω	omega	ωμέγα	oméga

References

• Efimeris tis kiverniseos tis Ellados (Greek National Gazette), 18 December 2002. (Specifies phonetic alphabet recommended for use by the amateur radio service.)
• [1]

See also

• ICAO spelling alphabet
• Russian spelling alphabet