Greek numerals: letters as numbers
Before Arabic figures, Greek wrote numbers with its letters: αʹ for 1, ιʹ for 10, ρʹ for 100. Greece still uses them for school years, monarchs and chapters. This page is about those symbols; for the number words, ένα, δύο, τρία, start at numbers in Greek.
͵αωκαʹ
Read one in three steps
- Find the letters before the keraia (ʹ).
- Look each one up in the table below.
- Add them up: σκγʹ is 200 + 20 + 3 = 223.
The 27 letters and their values
| Letter | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| αʹ | 1 | |
| βʹ | 2 | |
| γʹ | 3 | |
| δʹ | 4 | |
| εʹ | 5 | |
| ϛʹ | 6 | stigma (often written στʹ today) |
| ζʹ | 7 | |
| ηʹ | 8 | |
| θʹ | 9 |
| Letter | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ιʹ | 10 | |
| κʹ | 20 | |
| λʹ | 30 | |
| μʹ | 40 | |
| νʹ | 50 | |
| ξʹ | 60 | |
| οʹ | 70 | |
| πʹ | 80 | |
| ϟʹ | 90 | koppa |
| Letter | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| ρʹ | 100 | |
| σʹ | 200 | |
| τʹ | 300 | |
| υʹ | 400 | |
| φʹ | 500 | |
| χʹ | 600 | |
| ψʹ | 700 | |
| ωʹ | 800 | |
| ϡʹ | 900 | sampi |
Examples
- 1: αʹ
- 6: ϛʹ
- 10: ιʹ
- 15: ιεʹ
- 40: μʹ
- 99: ϟθʹ
- 100: ρʹ
- 666: χξϛʹ
- 1,821: ͵αωκαʹ
- 2,026: ͵βκϛʹ
The mark after the letters is the keraia, Unicode U+0374 GREEK NUMERAL SIGN; the low mark before a thousand is U+0375. In everyday modern print the keraia is often typed as an apostrophe-like accent, and six is often written στʹ because few fonts carried the old letter stigma.
Where you will meet them in Greece
- School years: Αʹ Δημοτικού to ΣΤʹ Δημοτικού, then Αʹ to Γʹ Γυμνασίου and Αʹ to Γʹ Λυκείου.
- Monarchs and church leaders: Κωνσταντίνος Βʹ, read Κωνσταντίνος ο Δεύτερος.
- Volumes, chapters, articles of law and numbered lists: Κεφάλαιο Γʹ, chapter three.
Read aloud, these are ordinal numbers, so the ordinals page tells you how to say them.
The older Attic numerals
Classical Athens used a different system, called acrophonic because most signs are the first letter of the number's name: Ι for 1, Π (pente) for 5, Δ (deka) for 10, Η (hekaton) for 100, Χ (chilioi) for 1,000 and Μ (myrioi) for 10,000. Numbers were built by repeating signs, as with Roman numerals: ΔΔΔ is 30. Inscriptions from Athens use them; the alphabetic system on this page replaced them.
Questions teachers and learners ask
What are Greek numerals?
A way of writing numbers with letters of the alphabet, used across the Greek world from ancient times. The first nine letters stand for 1 to 9, the next nine for the tens and the last nine for the hundreds, with three old letters (stigma, koppa, sampi) filling the gaps. A mark called the keraia after a letter shows it is a number: αʹ is 1.
Does Greece still use letter numerals?
Yes, alongside ordinary figures, much as English uses Roman numerals. School years are named with them (Αʹ Δημοτικού is the first year of primary school, Γʹ Λυκείου the last year of upper secondary), and so are monarchs and patriarchs, volumes, chapters and the sections of laws and documents. Read aloud they are ordinals: Βʹ Γυμνασίου is δευτέρα Γυμνασίου.
How do you write thousands in Greek numerals?
With a keraia below and before the letter: ͵α is 1,000, ͵β 2,000, up to ͵θ for 9,000. So 1821 is ͵αωκαʹ: a thousand, eight hundred (ω), twenty (κ), one (α).
What is the difference between Greek numbers and Greek numerals?
On this site, Greek numbers are the words of Modern Greek, ένα, δύο, τρία, which are what a learner needs to speak and read the language. Greek numerals are the letter symbols on this page. A worksheet or a 1 to 100 chart is about the words; this page is about the symbols.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Greek numerals” and “Attic numerals” (the letter values and signs); The Unicode Standard, Greek and Coptic block (U+0374, U+0375, and stigma, koppa and sampi at U+03DA to U+03E1); the Greek school year names as used by the Ministry of Education.