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 mostly on radio voice channels by the Greek army, the navy and the police.

Motivation

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

• víta (β), zíta (ζ), íta (η), thíta (θ)
• épsilon (ε), ýpsilon (υ)
• mi (μ), ni (ν)
• pi (π), xi (ξ), fi (φ), chi (χ), psi (ψ)

The spelling alphabet

Letter	letter name	spelling name	meaning of word
Α, α	álfa	αστήρ	astír ('star')
Β, β	víta	Βύρων	Výron ('Byron')
Γ, γ	gámma	γαλή	galí ('cat')
Δ, δ	délta	δόξα	dóxa ('glory')
Ε, ε	épsilon	Ερμής	Ermís ('Hermes')
Ζ, ζ	zíta	Ζευς[1]	Zefs ('Zeus')
Η, η	íta	Ηρώ	Iró ('Hero')
Θ, θ	thíta	θεά	theá ('goddess')
Ι, ι	ióta	ίσκιος	ískios ('shadow')
Κ, κ	káppa	κενόν	kenón ('blank')
Λ, λ	lámbda	λάμα	láma ('blade')
Μ, μ	mi	μέλι	méli ('honey')
Ν, ν	ni	ναός	naós ('church')
Ξ, ξ	xi	Ξέρξης	Xérxis ('Xerxes')
Ο, ο	ómikron	οσμή	osmí ('smell')
Π, π	pi	Πέτρος	Pétros ('Peter')
Ρ, ρ	ro	ρήγας	rígas ('king')
Σ, σ, -ς	sígma	σοφός	sofós ('wise')
Τ, τ	taf	τίγρης	tígris ('tiger')
Υ, υ	ýpsilon	ύμνος	ýmnos ('hymn')
Φ, φ	fi	Φωφώ	Fofó ('a female diminutive name')
Χ, χ	chi	χαρά	chará ('joy')
Ψ, ψ	psi	ψυχή	psychí ('soul')
Ω, ω	oméga	ωμέγα	oméga ('the last letter of the Greek alphabet')

See also

• NATO/ICAO phonetic alphabet
• Russian spelling alphabet

References

1. Alternative Police variant "Ζωή" (Zoí)

Further reading

• Efimeris tis kiverniseos tis Ellados (Greek National Gazette), 18 December 2002. (Specifies a phonetic alphabet recommended for use by the amateur radio service, although in practice it is never used.)