Alpha (letter)

From Wikinfo

Greek alphabet
Αα	Alpha	Νν	Nu
Ββ	Beta	Ξξ	Xi
Γγ	Gamma	Οο	Omicron
Δδ	Delta	Ππ	Pi
Εε	Epsilon	Ρρ	Rho
Ζζ	Zeta	Σσς	Sigma
Ηη	Eta	Ττ	Tau
Θθ	Theta	Υυ	Upsilon
Ιι	Iota	Φφ	Phi
Κκ	Kappa	Χχ	Chi
Λλ	Lambda	Ψψ	Psi
Μμ	Mu	Ωω	Omega
Obsolete letters
File:Digamma uc lc.svg	Digamma	File:Qoppa uc lc.svg	Qoppa
File:San uc lc.svg	San	File:Sampi uc lc.svg	Sampi
Other characters
File:Stigma uc lc.svg	Stigma	File:Sho uc lc.svg	Sho
File:Heta uc lc.svg	Heta
Greek diacritics

Alpha (uppercase Α lowercase α), is the letter of the Greek alphabet, used to represent the "[a]" sound in Greek. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 1. Letters that came from it include the Roman A and Cyrillic А.

Alpha is used in epichoric Ionian subset of full Greek alphabet to denote an beginning to something, the opposite being Omega, end. For example, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." (Revelation 22:13, KJV)

The lower-case letter α is used as the symbol for:

• Angular acceleration in physics.
• The alpha particle and alpha decay in physics.

Alpha is often used as an adjective to indicate the first or most significant occurrence of something, as in alpha male or alpha version.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Alpha_(letter)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_(letter), used under the GNU Free Documentation License