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Not to be confused with Y (letter).
This article is about the Greek letter Gamma Γ (and γ) as used in various fields.
For the Latin forms like Ɣ see Gamma § Phonetic transcription. For other uses, see
Gamma (disambiguation).

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Gamma uc lc.svg
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
History
Archaic local variants

ϜͰϺϘͲͶ

Diacritics Ligatures

Numerals

ϛ (6)ϟ (90)ϡ (900)

Use in other languages

Bactrian Coptic Albanian

Related topics

Use as scientific symbols

Category

vte

Gamma /ˈɡæmə/[1] (uppercase Γ, lowercase γ; Greek: γάμμα gámma) is the third letter
of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. In
Ancient Greek, the letter gamma represented a voiced velar stop IPA: [ɡ]. In Modern
Greek, this letter represents either a voiced velar fricative IPA: [ɣ] or a voiced
palatal fricative IPA: [ʝ] (while /g/ in foreign words is instead commonly
transcribed as γκ).

In the International Phonetic Alphabet and other modern Latin-alphabet based

phonetic notations, it represents the voiced velar fricative.
Contents

1 History
2 Greek phoneme
3 Phonetic transcription
4 Mathematics and science
4.1 Lowercase
4.2 Uppercase
5 Meteorology
5.1 Tropical cyclones
6 Encoding
6.1 HTML
6.2 Unicode
7 See also
8 References

History
Further information: History of the Greek alphabet

The Greek letter Gamma Γ is a grapheme derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤂 (gīml)
which was rotated from the right-to-left script of Canaanite to accommodate the
Greek language's writing system of left-to-right. The Canaanite grapheme
represented the /g/ phoneme in the Canaanite language, and as such is cognate with
gimel ‫ ג‬of the Hebrew alphabet.

Based on its name, the letter has been interpreted as an abstract representation of
a camel's neck,[2] but this has been criticized as contrived,[3] and it is more
likely that the letter is derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph representing a club
or throwing stick.[4]
The alphabet on black-figure pottery with a lambda-shaped gamma

In Archaic Greece, the shape of gamma was closer to a classical lambda (Λ), while
lambda retained the Phoenician L-shape (𐌋).

Letters that arose from the Greek gamma include Etruscan (Old Italic) 𐌂, Roman C
and G, Runic kaunan ᚲ, Gothic geuua 𐌲 , the Coptic Ⲅ, and the Cyrillic letters Г
and Ґ.[5]
Greek phoneme
Further information: Ancient Greek phonology and Modern Greek phonology

The Ancient Greek /g/ phoneme was the voiced velar stop, continuing the
reconstructed proto-Indo-European *g, *ǵ.

The modern Greek phoneme represented by gamma is realized either as a voiced

palatal fricative (/ʝ/) before a front vowel (/e/, /i/), or as a voiced velar
fricative /ɣ/ in all other environments. Both in Ancient and in Modern Greek,
before other velar consonants (κ, χ, ξ k, kh, ks), gamma represents a velar
nasal /ŋ/. A double gamma γγ represents the sequence /ŋɡ/ (phonetically varying
[ŋɡ~ɡ]) or /ŋɣ/.
Phonetic transcription

Lowercase Greek gamma is used in the Americanist phonetic notation and Uralic
Phonetic Alphabet to indicate voiced consonants.

The gamma was also added to the Latin alphabet, as Latin gamma, in the following
forms: majuscule Ɣ, minuscule ɣ, and superscript modifier letter ˠ.

In the International Phonetic Alphabet the minuscule letter is used to represent a

voiced velar fricative and the superscript modifier letter is used to represent
velarization. It is not to be confused with the character ɤ, which looks like a
lowercase Latin gamma that lies above the baseline rather than crossing, and which
represents the close-mid back unrounded vowel. In certain nonstandard variations of
the IPA, the uppercase form is used.[citation needed]

It is as a full-fledged majuscule and minuscule letter in the alphabets of some of

languages of Africa such as Dagbani, Dinka, Kabye, and Ewe,[6] and Berber languages
using the Berber Latin alphabet.

It is sometimes also used in the romanization of Pashto.

Mathematics and science
Lowercase

The lowercase letter γ \gamma is used as a symbol for:

Chromatic number of in graph theory

Gamma radiation in nuclear physics
The photon, the elementary particle of light and other electromagnetic
radiation
The 434 nm spectral line in the Balmer series
Surface energy in materials science
The Lorentz factor in the theory of relativity
In mathematics, the lower incomplete gamma function
The heat capacity ratio Cp 
 
/Cv in thermodynamics
The activity coefficient in thermodynamics
The gyromagnetic ratio in electromagnetism
Gamma waves in neuroscience
Gamma motor neurons in neuroscience
A non-SI metric unit of measure of mass equal to one microgram (1 μg).[7][8]
This always-rare use is currently deprecated.
A non-SI unit of measure of magnetic flux density, sometimes used in
geophysics, equal to 1 nanotesla (nT).[citation needed]
The power by which the luminance of an image is increased in gamma correction
The Euler–Mascheroni constant
In civil and mechanical engineering:
Specific weight
The shear rate of a fluid is represented by a lowercase gamma with a dot
above it: γ ˙ {\dot \gamma }
Austenite (also known as γ-iron), a metallic non-magnetic allotrope or
solid solution of iron.
The gamma carbon, the third carbon attached to a functional group in organic
chemistry and biochemistry; see Alpha and beta carbon

The lowercase Latin gamma ɣ can also be used in contexts (such as chemical or
molecule nomenclature) where gamma must not be confused with the letter y, which
can occur in some computer typefaces.
Uppercase

The uppercase letter Γ \Gamma is used as a symbol for:

In mathematics, the gamma function (usually written as Γ \Gamma -function) is

an extension of the factorial to complex numbers
In mathematics, the upper incomplete gamma function
The Christoffel symbols in differential geometry
In probability theory and statistics, the gamma distribution is a two-parameter
family of continuous probability distributions.
In solid-state physics, the center of the Brillouin zone
Circulation in fluid mechanics
As reflection coefficient in physics and electrical engineering
The tape alphabet of a Turing machine
The Feferman–Schütte ordinal Γ 0 \Gamma _{0}
One of the Greeks in mathematical finance

Meteorology
Tropical cyclones

The name Gamma has been used twice for tropical cyclones:

Tropical Storm Gamma (2005) - deadly tropical storm that impacted Honduras

Hurricane Gamma (2020) - hurricane that affected the Yucatan Peninsula

Encoding
HTML

The HTML entities for uppercase and lowercase gamma are Γ and γ.
Unicode

Greek Gamma

Character information Preview Γ γ ᴦ ᵞ ᵧ

Unicode name GREEK CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA GREEK
LETTER SMALL CAPITAL GAMMA MODIFIER LETTER SMALL GREEK GAMMA GREEK SUBSCRIPT
SMALL LETTER GAMMA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 915 U+0393 947 U+03B3 7462 U+1D26 7518 U+1D5E
7527 U+1D67
UTF-8 206 147 CE 93 206 179 CE B3 225 180 166 E1 B4
A6 225 181 158 E1 B5 9E 225 181 167 E1 B5 A7
Numeric character reference Γ Γ γ γ
ᴦ ᴦ ᵞ ᵞ ᵧ ᵧ
Named character reference Γ γ

Coptic Gamma

Character information Preview Ⲅ ⲅ

Unicode name COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA COPTIC SMALL LETTER GAMMA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 11396 U+2C84 11397 U+2C85
UTF-8 226 178 132 E2 B2 84 226 178 133 E2 B2 85
Numeric character reference Ⲅ Ⲅ ⲅ ⲅ

Latin Gamma / phonetic Gamma

Character information Preview Ɣ ɣ ˠ ɤ

Unicode name LATIN CAPITAL LETTER GAMMA LATIN SMALL LETTER GAMMA
MODIFIER LETTER SMALL GAMMA LATIN SMALL LETTER RAMS HORN
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 404 U+0194 611 U+0263 736 U+02E0 612 U+0264
UTF-8 198 148 C6 94 201 163 C9 A3 203 160 CB A0
201 164 C9 A4
Numeric character reference Ɣ Ɣ ɣ ɣ ˠ
 ˠ ɤ ɤ

CJK Square Gamma

Character information Preview ㌏

Unicode name SQUARE GAMMA
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 13071 U+330F
UTF-8 227 140 143 E3 8C 8F
Numeric character reference ㌏ ㌏

Technical / Mathematical Gamma

Character information Preview ℾ ℽ 𝚪 𝛄 𝛤 𝛾

Unicode name DOUBLE-STRUCK
CAPITAL GAMMA DOUBLE-STRUCK
SMALL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL BOLD
CAPITAL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL BOLD
SMALL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
CAPITAL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL ITALIC
SMALL GAMMA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec
hex
Unicode 8510 U+213E 8509 U+213D 120490 U+1D6AA 120516
U+1D6C4 120548 U+1D6E4 120574 U+1D6FE
UTF-8 226 132 190 E2 84 BE 226 132 189 E2 84 BD 240 157 154
170 F0 9D 9A AA 240 157 155 132 F0 9D 9B 84 240 157 155 164 F0 9D
9B A4 240 157 155 190 F0 9D 9B BE
UTF-16 8510 213E 8509 213D 55349 57002 D835 DEAA 55349 57028
D835 DEC4 55349 57060 D835 DEE4 55349 57086 D835 DEFE
Numeric character reference ℾ ℾ ℽ ℽ
𝚪 𝚪 𝛄 𝛄 𝛤 𝛤
𝛾 𝛾

Character information Preview 𝜞 𝜸 𝝘 𝝲 𝞒 𝞬

Unicode name MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
CAPITAL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL BOLD ITALIC
SMALL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD CAPITAL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD SMALL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC CAPITAL GAMMA MATHEMATICAL SANS-SERIF
BOLD ITALIC SMALL GAMMA
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec
hex
Unicode 120606 U+1D71E 120632 U+1D738 120664 U+1D758
120690 U+1D772 120722 U+1D792 120748 U+1D7AC
UTF-8 240 157 156 158 F0 9D 9C 9E 240 157 156 184 F0 9D 9C B8
240 157 157 152 F0 9D 9D 98 240 157 157 178 F0 9D 9D B2 240
157 158 146 F0 9D 9E 92 240 157 158 172 F0 9D 9E AC
UTF-16 55349 57118 D835 DF1E 55349 57144 D835 DF38 55349 57176
D835 DF58 55349 57202 D835 DF72 55349 57234 D835 DF92 55349
57260 D835 DFAC
Numeric character reference 𝜞 𝜞 𝜸 𝜸
𝝘 𝝘 𝝲 𝝲 𝞒 𝞒
𝞬 𝞬
These characters are used only as
be encoded using the normal Greek
text style.
See also
Look up Γ or γ in Wiktionary, the
Look up Ɣ or ɣ in Wiktionary, the
mathematical symbols. Stylized Greek text should
letters, with markup and formatting to indicate
free dictionary.
free dictionary.

Г, г - Ge (Cyrillic)
G, g - Latin
Gamma correction
Gammadion – symbol that appears to look like a swastika, but pre-dates the Nazi
Hakenkreuz (Hooked-Cross)

References

"gamma". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University

Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
Russell, Bertrand (1972). A history of western philosophy (60th print. ed.). New
York: Touchstone book. ISBN 9780671314002.
Powell, Barry B. (2012). Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of
Civilization. John Wiley & Sons. p. 182. ISBN 978-1-118-29349-2.
Hamilton, Gordon James (2006). The Origins of the West Semitic Alphabet in Egyptian
Scripts. Catholic Biblical Association of America. pp. 53–6. ISBN 978-0-915170-40-
1.
"Greek Alphabet Symbols". Rapid Tables. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
Practical Orthography of African Languages
François Cardarelli (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights and
Measures. London: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-1-4471-1122-1.

Betty Grover Eisner, Ph.D. (August 7, 2002). Remembrances of LSD therapy past
(PDF). p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-12-05. "that fateful 100
gamma, the same dosage I had had at my first LSD session"

Categories:

Greek lettersPhonetic transcription symbols

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This page was last edited on 29 November 2022, at 03:32 (UTC).

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