Writing Greek Letters in HTML
By
Ancient History and Latin Expert
- M.A., Linguistics, University of Minnesota
- B.A., Latin, University of Minnesota
N.S. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. She has been featured by NPR and National Geographic for her ancient history expertise.
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Updated on May 04, 2019
If you write anything scientific or mathematical on the internet, you will quickly find the need for several special characters that are not readily available on your keyboard. ASCII characters forHTMLallow you to include many characters that don't appear on an English keyboard, including theGreek alphabet.
To make the correct character appear on the page, start with an ampersand (&) and a pound sign (#), followed by a three-digit number, and ending with a semicolon (;).
Creating Greek Letters
This table containsmany Greek lettersbut not all of them. It only contains uppercase and lowercase letters that are not available on a keyboard. Forexample, you can type the capital alpha (A) in Greekwith a regular capitalAbecause these letters look the same in Greek and English. You can also use the code Α or Α. The results are the same. Not all symbols are supported by all browsers. Check before you publish. You may need to add the following bit of code in the head part of your HTML document:
HTML Codes for Greek Letters
Character | Displayed | HTML Code |
capital gamma | Γ | Γ or Γ |
capital delta | Δ | Δ or Δ |
capital theta | Θ | Θ or Θ |
capital lambda | Λ | Λ or &Lamda; |
capital xi | Ξ | Ξ or Ξ |
capital pi | Π | Π or Π |
capital sigma | Σ | Σ or Σ |
capital phi | Φ | Φ or Φ |
capital psi | Ψ | Ψ or Ψ |
capital omega | Ω | Ω or Ω |
small alpha | α | α or α |
small beta | β | β or β |
small gamma | γ | γ or γ |
small delta | δ | δ or δ |
small epsilon | ε | ε or ε |
small zeta | ζ | ζ or ζ |
small eta | η | η or ζ |
small theta | θ | θ or θ |
small iota | ι | ι or ι |
small kappa | κ | κ or κ |
small lamda | λ | λ or λ |
small mu | μ | μ or μ |
small nu | ν | ν or ν |
small xi | ξ | ξ or ξ |
small pi | π | π or π |
small rho | ρ | ρ or ρ |
small sigma | σ | σ or σ |
small tau | τ | τ or τ |
small upsilon | υ | υ or υ |
small phi | φ | φ or φ |
small chi | χ | χ or χ |
small psi | ψ | ψ or ψ |
small omega | ω | ω or ω |
Alt Codes for Greek Letters
You can also use Alt codes—also called quick codes,quick keys, or keyboard shortcuts—to create Greek letters, as displayed in thetable below, which was adapted from the websiteUseful Shortcuts. To create any of these Greek letters using the Alt codes, simply press the "Alt" key while simultaneously typing the listed number.
For example, to create the Greek letter Alpha (α), press the "Alt" key and type 224 using the keypad at the right side of your keyboard. (Do not use the numbers at the top of the keyboard located above the letter keys, as they will not work for creating Greek letters.)
Character | Displayed | Alt Code |
Alpha | α | Alt 224 |
Beta | β | Alt 225 |
Gamma | Γ | Alt 226 |
Delta | δ | Alt 235 |
Epsilon | ε | Alt 238 |
Theta | Θ | Alt 233 |
Pi | π | Alt 227 |
Mu | µ | Alt 230 |
Uppercase Sigma | Σ | Alt 228 |
Lowercase Sigma | σ | Alt 229 |
Tau | τ | Alt 231 |
Uppercase Phi | Φ | Alt 232 |
Lowercase Phi | φ | Alt 237 |
Omega | Ω | Alt 234 |
History of the Greek Alphabet
The Greek alphabet went through several changes over the centuries. Before the fifth century B.C., there were two similar Greek alphabets, the Ionic and Chalcidian. The Chalcidian alphabet may have been the forerunner of the Etruscan alphabet and, later, the Latin alphabet.
It is the Latin alphabet that forms the basis of most European alphabets. Meanwhile, Athens adopted the Ionic alphabet; as a result, it is still used in modern Greece.
While the original Greek alphabet was written in all capitals, three different scripts were created to make it easier to write quickly. These include uncial, a system for connecting capital letters, as well as the more familiar cursive and minuscule. Minuscule is the basis for modern Greek handwriting.
Why You Should Know the Greek Alphabet
Even if you never plan to learn Greek, there are good reasons to familiarize yourself with the alphabet. Mathematics and science use Greek letters like pi (π) to complement the numeric symbols. Sigma in its capital form (Σ) can stand for sum, while the uppercase letter delta (Δ) can meanchange.
The Greek alphabet is also central to the study of theology. For example, the Greek used in the Bible—calledKoine (or "common") Greek—is different thanmodern Greek. Koine Greek was the language used by writers of the Old Testament Greek Septuagint(the earliest existing Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the Greek New Testament, according to an article titled "The Greek Alphabet" published on the websiteBibleScripture.net. So, many theologians need to study ancient Greek to get closer to the original biblical text. Having ways to quickly produce Greek letters using HTML or keyboard shortcuts makes this process much easier.
Additionally, Greek letters are used to designate fraternities, sororities, and philanthropic organizations. Some books in English are also numbered using the letters of the Greek alphabet. Sometimes, both lowercase and capitals are employed for simplification. Thus, you may find that the books of the "Iliad" are written Α to Ω and those of the "Odyssey," α to ω.
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Your Citation
Gill, N.S. "Writing Greek Letters on the Computer." ThoughtCo, Nov. 1, 2021, thoughtco.com/writing-greek-letters-on-the-computer-118734.Gill, N.S. (2021, November 1). Writing Greek Letters on the Computer. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/writing-greek-letters-on-the-computer-118734Gill, N.S. "Writing Greek Letters on the Computer." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/writing-greek-letters-on-the-computer-118734 (accessed February 17, 2023).
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FAQs
How do you write Alpha in HTML? ›
- UNICODE. U+00251.
- HEX CODE. ɑ
- HTML CODE. ɑ
- HTML ENTITY. —
- CSS CODE. \0251. <span>ɑ</span> content: "\0251";
- UNICODE. U+00278.
- HEX CODE. ɸ
- HTML CODE. ɸ
- HTML ENTITY. —
- CSS CODE. \0278. <span>ɸ</span> content: "\0278";
On the “Keyboards and Languages” tab, click on “Change Keyboards” > “Add” > “Greek.” 4. Expand the option of “Greek” and then expand the option “Keyboard.” Select the keyboard layout marked as “Greek.” You can ignore other keyboard layouts. Click “OK” and then “Apply.”
How do I type symbols in HTML? ›- To add special characters in HTML, type an ampersand followed by a pound sign (&#) at the place within your HTML document where you want to add a special character.
- Type the number of the proper code for the character to add.
- Type a semicolon (;) to finish.
The alpha parameter is a number between 0.0 (fully transparent) and 1.0 (fully opaque).
What is the Alt code for Alpha? ›™ for trademark symbol ™   for copyright symbol ©
What are Greek UTF 8 characters? ›The following characters are utf-8 encoded Greek: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, nu, pi, degree (of temperature): α, β, γ, δ, Δ, ν, π, °. or the file has the suffix utf8 added to its name on the server.
How do you insert a Phi symbol? ›Phi uppercase and lowercase symbol codes
Use the Alt + X shortcut in Word for Windows, for example type 03A6 then Alt + X to enter Φ.
What characters are allowed in HTML? ›
HTML elements all have names that only use characters in the range U+0030 DIGIT ZERO (0) to U+0039 DIGIT NINE (9), U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A to U+007A LATIN SMALL LETTER Z, and U+0041 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A to U+005A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z.
How to use alpha in CSS? ›Transparency using RGBA
In addition to RGB, you can use an RGB color value with an alpha channel (RGBA) - which specifies the opacity for a color. An RGBA color value is specified with: rgba(red, green, blue, alpha). The alpha parameter is a number between 0.0 (fully transparent) and 1.0 (fully opaque).
If a digital image or video footage contains an alpha channel, it signifies that additional transparency information is contained within the file besides the color components. The alpha channel contains no color information, only transparency information. The channel is always visualized as a grayscale image.
What does BTN mean in HTML? ›Bootstrap Button Classes. The Bootstrap button class is . btn. Using this button class with a <button> element will create an unformatted button. HTML.
What is the ascii code for Greek? ›Code page 869 is an alternative code page used to write Greek language.
What is the Unicode for Alpha? ›Name | Unicode | Unicode Name |
---|---|---|
alefsym | 02135 | ALEF SYMBOL |
Alpha | 00391 | GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA |
alpha | 003B1 | GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA |
and | 02227 | LOGICAL AND |
#000000 means no Red, Green, or Blue. The result is BLACK. #FFFFFF means full FF amounts of Red, Green, and Blue. The result is WHITE.
How to insert Unicode in HTML? ›You do this by adding &# in front of the Unicode number, and ; after, and this will display in HTML as the actual unicode character. For example: J will display J in HTML.
How to write formula in HTML? ›...
Create an equation
- Enter a Title for your equation.
- Choose the Math Format you want to use and click Apply. ...
- Enter your equation and click Insert.
UTF-8 uses two bytes to represent several common scripts, including the non-ASCII Latin characters, and the Cyrillic, Greek and Coptic, Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, Armenian, and Thaana scripts, as well as combining diacriticals: the leading byte is a value that indicates that the character uses a two-byte code and ...
Are Greek letters in Unicode? ›
A number of Greek letters, variants, digits, and other symbols are supported by the Unicode character encoding standard.
Does UTF-8 cover all languages? ›UTF-8 supports any unicode character, which pragmatically means any natural language (Coptic, Sinhala, Phonecian, Cherokee etc), as well as many non-spoken languages (Music notation, mathematical symbols, APL).
How do I type a Ø on a keyboard? ›Ø = Hold down the Control and Shift keys and type a / (slash), release the keys, hold down the Shift key and type an O.
What symbol is Φ? ›Letter | Uppercase | Lowercase |
---|---|---|
Upsilon | Υ | υ |
Phi | Φ | φ |
Chi | Χ | χ |
Psi | Ψ | ψ |
Symbol. φ (mathematics) The golden ratio, an irrational number with a value of approximately 1.618033988 which expresses the relationship that the sum of two quantities is to the larger quantity as the larger is to the smaller.
How do you write ABCD in Greek? ›Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ/ς, Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω.
Is Σ and Σ the same? ›When used at the end of a letter-case word (one that does not use all caps), the final form (ς) is used. In Ὀδυσσεύς (Odysseus), for example, the two lowercase sigmas (σ) in the center of the name are distinct from the word-final sigma (ς) at the end.
What symbol is this Σ? ›The symbol Σ (sigma) is generally used to denote a sum of multiple terms. This symbol is generally accompanied by an index that varies to encompass all terms that must be considered in the sum.
What is the difference between X̄ and Σ? ›x̄ just stands for the “sample mean” Σ is summation notation, which means “add up”
How do you type Greek accents on a PC? ›- Click the Start button, then type “Region and Language,” and press Enter.
- Under Languages, click Add a language, then type Greek in the search box.
- Select Greek.
- After that, select Greek under Languages and click Set as default.
How do I type in Greek on Windows? ›
To start typing in Greek, click the letters ENG next to the clock in the lower right corner of the screen. Choose “Greek Polytonic keyboard” to start typing in greek, and click “US keyboard” again to go back to English.
How is alpha written? ›...
Greek Alphabet.
Letter | Uppercase | Lowercase |
---|---|---|
Alpha | Α | α |
Beta | Β | β |
Gamma | Γ | γ |
Delta | Δ | δ |
Name | Unicode | Unicode Name |
---|---|---|
alefsym | 02135 | ALEF SYMBOL |
Alpha | 00391 | GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA |
alpha | 003B1 | GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA |
and | 02227 | LOGICAL AND |
An uppercase alpha looks identical to a capital A, while the lowercase version is similar but not identical to a small a: α. The Greek alpha comes from the Hebrew and Phoenician aleph, a form of the word for "ox," eleph, possibly because the character resembled an ox's head.
How do you type an Omega? ›Omega upper and lowercase symbol codes
Use the Alt + X shortcut in Word for Windows, for example type 03A9 then Alt + X to enter Ω.
Alpha (Α) and omega (Ω) are the first and last letters, respectively, of the classical (Ionic) Greek alphabet. Thus, the phrase "I am the alpha and the omega" is further clarified with the additional phrase, "the beginning and the end" in Revelation 21:6, 22:13.
How do you write Σ? ›Sigma (σ, ς):There are two forms for the letter Sigma. When written at the end of a word, it is written like this: ς. If it occurs anywhere else, it is written like this: σ.
How do you write μ? ›What is mu (µ)? The lowercase Greek letter µ (pronounced mu) generally represents the prefix multiplier 0.000001, i.e., 10-6 or one millionth. For example, 0.000001 farad or 10-6 F of electrical capacitance is commonly written as 1 µF. Similarly, 0.000000001 or 10 -9 farad is written as 0.001 µF.
What letter is ξ? ›Xi (uppercase/lowercase Ξ ξ) is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet. It is used to represent the "x" sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 60. The Roman letter X and Cyrillic letter Ѯ came from Xi.
Is Greek a Unicode? ›A number of Greek letters, variants, digits, and other symbols are supported by the Unicode character encoding standard.
What do you call this Σ? ›
The symbol Σ (sigma) is generally used to denote a sum of multiple terms.
What letter is after Omicron? ›Omicron is followed by Pi in the Greek alphabet system which is being used by WHO to name Covid-19 variants. When the Omicron variant of Covid-19 first came to light, its etymology created quite a stir on social media.
What Greek letter looks like Y? ›Etymology. The name of the letter was originally just "υ" (y; also called hy, hence "hyoid", meaning "shaped like the letter υ"), but the name changed to "υ ψιλόν" u psilon 'simple u' to distinguish it from οι, which had come to have the same [y] pronunciation.
What is the Greek letter for N? ›) resembles the Roman lowercase v. The name of the letter is written νῦ in Ancient Greek and traditional Modern Greek polytonic orthography, while in Modern Greek it is written νι [ni]. Letters that arose from nu include Roman N and Cyrillic Н.