French pronunciation of Greek letters

Question

I am reading technical papers which contain many letters from the Greek alphabet. I'm not sure how to pronounce them and having a hard time looking it up. What is the standard French pronunciation of the Greek alphabet?

Answer 1

Most are pronounced "like they are written", i.e. using the French default usage. The ê can be pronounced either /e/ or /ɛ/.

Thêta is pronounced /tɛta/ or /teta/, phi and khi are pronounced /fi/ and /ki/.

Only zêta, epsilon and upsilon might be pronounced partially or totally as foreign words, z is often realized as /dz/, "-on" is almost never the nasalisation /ɔ̃/ and u is often pronounced /œ/: /d͡zɛta/ or /zɛta/, /ɛpsilon/ & /œpsilon/ or /ypsilon/.

Lambda is generally pronounced /lãbda/ in France but the alternative /lam(b)da/ can also be heard, depending on the region.

Psi is not special but simply pronounced like the beginning of psychologue.

Note that omicron is always pronounced the French way, with a nasalisation: /omikrɔ̃/, likely because micron is already a French world.

Answer 2

alphabet grec.

1.  Α   α   alpha   
   

2.  Β   β   bêta    
   

3.  Γ   γ   gamma   
   

4.  Δ   δ   delta   
   

5.  Ε   ε   epsilon 
   

6.  Ζ   ζ   zêta    
   

7.  Η   η   êta     
   

8.  Θ   θ   thêta   
   

9.  Ι   ι   iota    
   

10. Κ   κ   kappa   
    

11. Λ   λ   lambda  
    

12. Μ   μ   mu
    

13. Ν   ν   nu
    

14. Ξ   ξ   ksi/xi  
    

15. Ο   ο   omicron 
    

16. Π   π   pi
    

17. Ρ   ρ   rhô     
    

18. Σ   σ   sigma   
    

19. Τ   τ   tau     
    

20. Υ   υ   upsilon
    

21. Φ   φ/ϕ phi     
    

22. Χ   χ   khi/chi 
    

23. Ψ   ψ   psi     
    

24. Ω   ω   oméga