Greek > alphabet letters > tau

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LETTER

CAPITAL-small
I.P.A. pronunc.
standard
erasmic
pronounced
as in the word...
(english or other)
letter name
in greek
in english
19) τ´= 300
T τ

transliteration: t
[t]
consonant
voiceless alveolar plosive
NOT ASPIRATED

tea
ταυ
[taf]
tau
[tαυ]
τεχνική
[texni'ci]
technique
[tek'nik]
τηλε- + -φωνή
tele- = far away- + phone=voice
telephone
['telschwafschwaυn]
τηλέφωνo
[ti'lefono]
τραγωδία
[traγo'δia]
tragedy
['trædzschwadı]
ORDER: T was the last letter of the northsemitic and the early greek alphabet. It was the 22nd letter of this early greek alphabet (if you include the abandoned letters). It is the 19th letter of the greek alphabet.

SHAPE: Consistent shape in all ancient cities of the Western-Eastern greek alphabet groups. The quasi-cross shape of the northsemitic tāw, could be associated to the T shape, but how the change happened is debated.

SOUND: When preceded by N, at the NT combination T was affected: the ancient [nt] became [nd] and then, [d]. Note, that the [d] sound was represented in ancient classic pronunciation (and erasmic) with Delta Δ.
In modern greek, when followed by fast diphthongs as /ia, ie, io, iu/ it becomes [+vowel], pronounced by some people [tj+vowel]. e.g. persian: tiara pronounced in english: [ti`αrə] greek: τιάρα pronounced [`ara].

NAME: ETYMOLOGY: From northsemitic (phoenician): tāw = the point.
NAME: SPELLING: Polytonic hellenistic spelling: ταUpsilon Perismpomene.

COMBINATIONS: NT [d] [nd] and TΣ [ts]
DOUBLED: sometimes double occurrence within a word. <ττ> was pronounced as [tt] till the middle times. Not pronounced as double in modern greek.

MORE GREEK WORDS STARTING WITH T
•τέχνη=art - techno(crat) •τόνoς= tone •τακτικό= tactical •τoξικό= toxic •τριάδα= triad •τραύμα= trauma •τηλε...=(anc.gr.)far...-tele(vision)
SIGMA ( Σ ): previous letter
first letter ALPHA ( A )
next letter: UPSILON ( Y )