Latin alphaΑ αⱭ ɑTime period1890s to presentSistersA, ⱰOtherWriting directionLeft-to-RightThis article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see .
AlphaHistoryArchaic local variants Diacritics and other symbolsDiacriticsάὰᾶἀἁᾱᾰϊᾳσ̌LigaturesϗϛNumerals (Attic)ϛ (6)ϟ (90)ϡ (900) Related topicsUse as scientific symbolsOrthographyRomanizationCyrillizationAlpha (uppercase Α, lowercase α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph⟨𐤀⟩, whose name comes from the West Semitic word for 'ox'.
Open front unrounded vowelIPA: Vowelsaudiofull chartLegend: unrounded • roundedThe open front unrounded vowel, or low front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. It is one of the eight primary cardinal vowels, not directly intended to correspond to a vowel sound of a specific language but rather to serve as a fundamental reference point in a phonetic measuring system.
English alphabetModern English is written with a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, with each having both uppercase and lowercase forms. The word alphabet is a compound of alpha and beta, the names of the first two letters in the Greek alphabet. The earliest Old English writing during the 5th century used a runic alphabet known as the futhorc.
Latin alphabetAlphabet of the Latin language Latin alphabetAbecedarium LatinumScript type Alphabet Periodc.
Italic typeAldus Manutius' italic, in a 1501 edition of Virgil. Italic is only used for the lower case and not for capitals.In typography, italic type (or italics, plurale tantum) is a cursivefont based on a stylised form of calligraphichandwriting. Along with blackletter and roman type, it served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, italics normally slant slightly to the right, like so.Letter (alphabet)In a writing system, a letter is a grapheme that generally corresponds to a phoneme—the smallest functional unit of speech—though there is rarely total one-to-one correspondence between the two. An alphabet is a writing system that uses letters.Letter caseLetter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally majuscule) and smaller lowercase (more formally minuscule) in the written representation of certain languages. The writing systems that distinguish between the upper- and lowercase have two parallel sets of letters: each in the majuscule set has a counterpart in the minuscule set.
Ancient GreekAncient Greek (Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ [hellɛːnikɛ̌ː]) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (c. 1400 – c. 1200 BC), Dark Ages (c. 1200 – c. 800 BC), the Archaic or Homeric period (c. 800 – c. 500 BC), and the Classical period (c. 500 – c. 300 BC).
HandwritingHandwriting is the personal and unique style of writing with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil in the hand. Handwriting includes both block and cursive styles and is separate from generic and formal handwriting script/style, calligraphy or typeface. Because each person's handwriting is unique and different, it can be used to verify a document's writer. The deterioration of a person's handwriting is also a symptom or result of several different diseases.
VowelA vowel is a speech sound pronounced with minimal to no stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, loudness, and length. They are usually voiced and are closely involved in prosodic variation such as tone, intonation and stress. The nucleus, or "center", of a syllable typically consists of a vowel sound (though this is not always the case).
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