Polytonic orthography is the traditional way of writing Greek, which is used for Ancient Greek, Koine and Katharevousa but since the 1980s has mostly been replaced by monotonic orthography for Modern Greek. It contains three accents (grave, acute and circumflex) and the rough and smooth breathings (spiritus lenis and spiritus asper), plus iota subscript under certain vowels, all of which are important in Classical Greek (and the breathings in particular are relevant to the etymology of words in other languages), but have no significance in the modern language and were considered very complicated for students.

It is still sometimes used in formal documents written (especially in Katharevousa) by conservative people.

There are known difficulties in displaying polytonic Greek on computer screens and printouts, but these can largely be overcome by use of suitable fonts.

Contents

1 Examples of polytonic characters 1.1 Upper case 1.2 Lower case 2 See also

Examples of polytonic characters

The following tables list some of the characters required in polytonic Greek.

Upper case

	Basic vowels							Vowels with iota subscript			Rho
	Alpha	Epsilon	Eta	Iota	Omicron	Upsilon	Omega	Alpha	Eta	Omega
Basic letter	Α	Ε	Η	Ι	Ο	Υ	Ω	ᾼ	ῌ	ῼ	Ρ
With acute	Ά	Έ	Ή	Ί	Ό	Ύ	Ώ
With grave	Ὰ	Ὲ	Ὴ	Ὶ	Ὸ	Ὺ	Ὼ
With circumflex
Smooth breathing	Ἀ	Ἐ	Ἠ	Ἰ	Ὀ		Ὠ	ᾈ	ᾘ	ᾨ
Rough breathing	Ἁ	Ἑ	Ἡ	Ἱ	Ὁ	Ὑ	Ὡ	ᾉ	ᾙ	ᾩ	Ῥ
Smooth and acute	Ἄ	Ἔ	Ἤ	Ἴ	Ὄ		Ὤ	ᾌ	ᾜ	ᾬ
Smooth and grave	Ἂ	Ἒ	Ἢ	Ἲ	Ὂ		Ὢ	ᾊ	ᾚ	ᾪ
Smooth and circumflex	Ἆ		Ἦ	Ἶ			Ὦ	ᾎ	ᾞ	ᾮ
Rough and acute	Ἅ	Ἕ	Ἥ	Ἵ	Ὅ	Ὕ	Ὥ	ᾍ	ᾝ	ᾭ
Rough and grave	Ἃ	Ἓ	Ἣ	Ἳ	Ὃ	Ὓ	Ὣ	ᾋ	ᾛ	ᾫ
Rough and circumflex	Ἇ		Ἧ	Ἷ		Ὗ	Ὧ	ᾏ	ᾟ

Lower case

	Basic vowels							Vowels with iota subscript			Rho
	Alpha	Epsilon	Eta	Iota	Omicron	Upsilon	Omega	Alpha	Eta	Omega
Basic letter	α	ε	η	ι	ο	υ	ω	ᾳ	ῃ	ῳ	ρ
With acute	ά	έ	ή	ί	ό	ύ	ώ	ᾴ	ῄ	ῴ
With grave	ὰ	ὲ	ὴ	ὶ	ὸ	ὺ	ὼ	ᾲ	ῂ	ῲ
With circumflex	ᾶ		ῆ	ῖ		ῦ	ῶ	ᾷ	ῇ	ῷ
Smooth breathing	ἀ	ἐ	ἠ	ἰ	ὀ	ὐ	ὠ	ᾀ	ᾐ	ᾠ	ῤ
Rough breathing	ἁ	ἑ	ἡ	ἱ	ὁ	ὑ	ὡ	ᾁ	ᾑ	ᾡ	ῥ
Smooth and acute	ἄ	ἔ	ἤ	ἴ	ὄ	ὔ	ὤ	ᾄ	ᾔ	ᾤ
Smooth and grave	ἂ	ἒ	ἢ	ἲ	ὂ	ὒ	ὢ	ᾂ	ᾒ	ᾢ
Smooth and circumflex	ἆ		ἦ	ἶ		ὖ	ὦ	ᾆ	ᾖ	ᾦ
Rough and acute	ἅ	ἕ	ἥ	ἵ	ὅ	ὕ	ὥ	ᾅ	ᾕ	ᾥ
Rough and grave	ἃ	ἓ	ἣ	ἳ	ὃ	ὓ	ὣ	ᾃ	ᾓ	ᾣ
Rough and circumflex	ἇ		ἧ	ἷ		ὗ	ὧ	ᾇ	ᾗ	ᾧ

See also

• Greek alphabet
• List of Greek words with English derivatives