Confused about pronunciation!
 

Hi all,

I'm just in High school but am very interested in the aspect of being in a sorority http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif Can anyone help me out w/pronunciation of letters, at least these?

Like when Phi is pronunced "fee" or "fie"
how "xi" is pronounced
how "chi" is pronounced

If there is a website which has various pronouncations, can you list it? THANKS! If there are any "exceptions" to the rules, please post them! THANKS!

In the Greek language Phi is always pronounced fee. In most fraternities and sorities, it is fie. Aplpha Phi is the only group I know of that prnounces it fee. Good luck with High School. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

When I learned the greekbet, we pronounced "Xi" as "zie".

How does everyone pronounce "Mu"? Is it supposed to be "mew" or "moo"? My sisters and I say "moo". What about Upsilon and Tau?

Every group I know of, including honoraries, has used Mu=Mew, Tau=Taw, and Upsilon=Oopsilon! How Xi is pronounced depends on the group; some say Zee and some say Zye.

Alpha Xi's pronounce Xi as "zee" though it can be pronounced "zi". I think it depends on vowel placement.

Xi is the same rule as phi and following a vowel.

Alpha Xi Delta - Alpha ZEE Delta
Theta Xi - Theta ZYE

I think that "mew" is the desired pronunciation of mu, since "moo" can have, shall we say, not the best connotations. http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/wink.gif

I agree with all the others, but on my campus the Tau Kappa Epsilon's pronounce it T-ao, as in, the philosophy

Thanks everyone for taking the time to answer my question!!!

so Phi Mu is pronunced "fie" like "Figh" and Mew, so "Figh Mew"? And Chi is just a hard "Kigh"?

Thank you also, BillyOptimist, and DeltAlum, for your good luck wishes to me and have a fabulous weekend everyone!!

Not trying to be a smart azz, but most larger dictionaries will have the phonetic spelling of greek letters.

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"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." ~Mohammed Ali

Regarding Xi. I think the rule is the same as Phi. It's Zee when following a vowell. Otherwise it's Zye.

Best of luck for the rest of high school.

DeltAlum

PS to the other posters, Tau is Taw, and we always pronounced MU Mew.

Newbie,

Your question was discussed some time ago on a thread called "Greek Alphabet". I brought it to the top if you wish to peruse this in any more detail.

RM

Yes, the thread is here: http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/...ML/000682.html

Happy Reading! http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

tau as in saw not taw as in cow that's how i've learned it

Well, the same thing goes for Cogito as kogeto! I after E except on what ever! It is Greek and is pronounced the same NO matter what is comes after, it is not English American, or French! Look and read your Greek Alphabet!


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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

The high school fraternity Sigma Phi Omega pronounces it "fie" also.

Hi!

I too am in hs. How is Gamma Phi Beta and Pi Beta Phi prononced then? Is it "fee"? (My reasoning is because it follows the vowel 'a' in Gamma and then Beta.)

Also, when they shorten Pi Beta Phi to PiPhi, is it also "fee"?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I have heard Phi Mu pronounced a whole lot of ways! http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif I have heard "Fee Mew" and then "Fee Moo" and then "Fie Mew"...does anone know which is correct?

[This message has been edited by bubbles17 (edited February 25, 2001).]

Bubbles-

Gamma and Pi are not vowels. When someone says 'it follows a vowel' they don't mean the last letter in the greek letter. (ex: the 'a' in Gamma and the 'i' in Pi) Rather, it means that follows an ACTUAL vowel in the greek language. I'm not sure what all of the Greek vowels are besides alpha. THey are both FI not FEE.

The only "fee" that I know of is:
Alpha Phi (fee)
The rest are "fie" (to the best of my knowledge).

The men's groups is:
Phi (Fie) Gamma Delta, but the nickname is Fee-G.

Hope that this helps!

I learned them all as rhyming with PIE

Phi = F(p)ie
Xi= Z(p)ie
Chi= C(p)ie

As I sasid before, the letters ar Greek and pronounced only one way!!!!

Tom Earp, I totally agree. However, how should everybody know? Unfortunately, I just know a few from Greek friends (I mean from Greece).
Xi for example in the Greek language is pronounces as if you would write it in English like ksee, Chi, like "chee" but with a sound deep from your throat that almost sounds like a cough to a lot of people. Unfortunately our X actually means "chee" in Greece and the Xi has a different letter that I cannot type here - that causes even more confusion.
Phi is pronounced "phee" and T as in cow but with a t, just as a lot of others stated previously.
Just my 25 cents, don't want to sound smarta$$ but Tom Earp is awfully right!

[This message has been edited by matthewg (edited February 26, 2001).]