Digamma facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Greek alphabet
Αα	Alpha	Νν	Nu
Ββ	Beta	Ξξ	Xi
Γγ	Gamma	Οο	Omicron
Δδ	Delta	Ππ	Pi
Εε	Epsilon	Ρρ	Rho
Ζζ	Zeta	Σσ	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
Other letters
Ϝϝ	Digamma	Ϟϟ	Koppa
Ϛϛ	Stigma	Ϡϡ	Sampi
Ͱͱ	Heta	Ϸϸ	Sho
Ϻϻ	San

Digamma or Wau (uppercase/lowercase Ϝ ϝ ς) was an old letter of the Greek alphabet. It was used before the alphabet converted its classical standard form. It looked like a Latin "F", but it was pronounced like "w". In the 5th century BC, people stopped using it because they could no longer pronounce the sound "w" in Greek. However, they kept it as a sign for the number "6" in the system of Greek numerals. It was originally called "Wau" because of its sound. Later, when the sound was lost, it was called "Digamma", which means "double Gamma", because it looks like a Gamma (Γ) with two hooks. The Latin letter F was also taken over from Wau.

In mathematics, the name "digamma" is used in digamma function, which is the derivative of the logarithm of gamma function (that is, ).

Related pages

• Perseus Project: lexicon search for words starting with or containing digamma

Images for kids

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  Ancient Greek ceramic fragment depicting a horse with rider. The inscription reads [...]Ι ϜΑΝΑΚΤΙ ([...]i wanakti), "to the king", with an initial digamma (and a local Σ-shaped form for iota).

• 

  The alphabet on a black figure vessel, with a square-C digamma.

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  A fragment of Papyrus 115, showing the number "χιϛ" (616, the "Number of the Beast"), with a C-shaped digamma.

See also

In Spanish: Ϝ para niños