Greek Letters: The Complete Greek Alphabet to Copy

How to use the greek letters

1. Find the letter you need in the groups above.
2. Click any character tile to copy it to your clipboard instantly.
3. Paste the copied greek letter into your document, email or code editor.
4. Use the reference table below if you need the exact HTML entity or Unicode code point.

What Are Greek Letters?

The Greek alphabet contains 24 letters, each with an uppercase and a lowercase form. It has been used continuously since roughly the 8th century BC and remains the standard writing system for the Greek language today. Beyond linguistics, these characters serve as universal notation across science, engineering and finance.

In mathematics and physics, specific letters carry established meanings. For example, alpha (α) often denotes an angle or a fine-structure constant, beta (β) represents a regression coefficient or particle radiation, pi (π) is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, sigma (Σ or σ) stands for summation or standard deviation, and omega (Ω or ω) marks electrical resistance or angular velocity. A full greek letters list like this one helps students and professionals find the right character quickly without memorizing every code point.

How to Type Greek Letters on Windows

Windows supports several methods for entering greek letters. Alt codes typed on the numeric keypad work for only a few of them. Hold down the Alt key, type the decimal code on the number pad, then release Alt. For instance, Alt + 224 produces α (alpha), Alt + 227 produces π (pi) and Alt + 234 produces Ω (omega). These codes come from the OEM code page 437 and exist only for α, Γ, π, Σ, σ, τ, Φ, Θ, Ω, δ, φ and ε. Alt+225 gives ß, not β, and codes such as Alt+913 do not work on a default Windows setup. For every other letter, copy it from this page or use the methods below. In Microsoft Word you can also type the hexadecimal code point, for example 03B2 for β, and press Alt + X.

A more reliable method on modern Windows 10 and 11 systems is the Character Map utility. Open it by searching "Character Map" in the Start menu, select the font (such as Arial or Times New Roman), check "Advanced view", type the Unicode value like 03B1 for alpha, and click Select then Copy. Alternatively, in Microsoft Word you can press Ctrl + Shift + Q to switch to the Symbol font temporarily, or use Insert > Symbol to browse the full range.

If you type greek letters frequently, consider installing the Greek keyboard layout from Settings > Time & Language > Language > Add a language. Once added, you can toggle between English and Greek keyboards using Win + Space.

Typing Greek Letters on Mac and Linux

On macOS, the easiest path is adding the Greek input source. Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources, click the plus button, search for "Greek", and add it. Switch layouts with Control + Space or the menu bar flag icon. With the Greek layout active, pressing the A key types α, B types β, and so on following the standard Greek keyboard mapping.

For occasional use without changing layouts, macOS offers the Character Viewer. Press Control + Command + Space to open it, search for "alpha" or browse the Greek block, and double-click to insert. You can also hold certain keys to see accent variants, though this applies mainly to Latin characters.

Linux users have multiple options depending on their desktop environment. In GNOME or KDE, add the Greek keyboard layout through the regional settings panel. Another powerful method is the Compose key: configure a key (often Right Alt or Menu) as the Compose key in your input settings, then type sequences like Compose + * + a for α or Compose + * + b for β. The exact sequences vary by distribution but are documented in the /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose file on most systems.

HTML Entities and Unicode Code Points

Web developers need reliable ways to embed greek letters in HTML documents. Named entities exist for the most common characters: α renders α, β renders β, γ renders γ, π renders π, σ renders σ, and ω renders ω. Uppercase versions capitalize the first letter of the entity name, so Α gives Α and Ω gives Ω.

When a named entity is unavailable, use numeric character references. The decimal form is α for α (since U+03B1 equals 945 in decimal), and the hexadecimal form is α. Both produce identical output in browsers. Numeric references work for every Unicode character, making them the safest choice for less common variant forms like lunate epsilon (ϵ, ϵ).

In CSS, you can insert a character via the content property using the escape sequence: content: '\03B1'; displays alpha. In JavaScript, use '\u03B1' or String.fromCodePoint(0x03B1) to generate the character programmatically. For related typographic needs, pages like math symbols and infinity symbol cover additional notation used alongside the Greek alphabet.

Reference Table of Greek Letters

This table lists all 24 Greek letters with their codes. All Unicode values fall in the Greek and Coptic block (U+0370 to U+03FF). The Alt column shows the OEM code page 437 code typed on the numeric keypad (without a leading zero), and none means no Alt code produces that letter, so copy it or use Alt+X in Word.

Code page 437 contains only a few Greek letters. Alt+225 gives a sharp s (ß) and Alt+230 gives a micro sign (µ), which resemble beta and mu but are different characters. Alt codes also depend on the active OEM code page, so they can differ on non-US Windows installations.

Common Mistakes When Using Greek Characters

A frequent error is confusing visually similar Latin and Greek characters. The Latin letter "A" (U+0041) looks identical to Greek Alpha "Α" (U+0391) in many fonts, but they are distinct code points. Searching, sorting and string comparison treat them differently. The same applies to Beta vs B, Omicron vs O, and Rho vs P. Always verify you are using the correct Unicode block when precision matters, especially in programming or database contexts.

Another issue involves final sigma (ς). In Greek orthography, sigma takes two lowercase forms: σ appears at the beginning or middle of a word, while ς (U+03C2) appears only at the end. Typing regular sigma at the end of a Greek word is a spelling error. Most Greek keyboard layouts handle this automatically, but manual entry requires attention.

Font support can also cause problems. While virtually all modern fonts include the basic 24-letter Greek alphabet, variant forms like lunate epsilon (ϵ) or rho symbol (ϱ) may render as blank boxes in older or minimal fonts. If you need these specialized forms, ensure your chosen typeface covers the full Greek and Coptic Unicode block. For broader scientific notation beyond the Greek alphabet, explore aesthetic symbols or currency symbols for other specialized character sets.

Worked examples