Greek diacritics

<a href="/facts/Greek_orthography/DrnKtdAx">Greek orthography</a> has used a variety of <a href="/facts/Diacritic/Rw6lMzQW">diacritics</a> starting in the <a href="/facts/Hellenistic_period/q6BgQsaF">Hellenistic period</a>. The more complex polytonic orthography , which includes five diacritics, notates <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_phonology/m8oaCUCD">Ancient Greek phonology</a>. The simpler monotonic orthography (<a href="/facts/Greek_language/pzDd6eIz">Greek</a>: μονοτονικό σύστημα γραφής, <a href="/facts/Romanization_of_Greek/KTELT9Aq">romanized</a>: monotonikó sýstīma grafī́s), introduced in 1982, corresponds to <a href="/facts/Modern_Greek_phonology/8YqswHuV">Modern Greek phonology</a>, and requires only two diacritics.
Polytonic orthography (from <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_language/LIK7NlUh">Ancient Greek</a> πολύς (polýs) 'much, many' and τόνος (tónos) 'accent') is the standard system for <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Ancient Greek</a> and <a href="/facts/Medieval_Greek/aXKrQL0h">Medieval Greek</a> and includes:

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Acute_accent/XDHwqnvk">acute accent</a> (´)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Circumflex/kg8xlo6W">circumflex</a> accent (῀)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Grave_accent/pVo48UeD">grave accent</a> (`); these 3 accents indicate different kinds of <a href="/facts/Pitch_accent/aIQu5zse">pitch accent</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Rough_breathing/LW6zh3m5">rough breathing</a> (῾) indicates the presence of the /h/ sound before a letter</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Smooth_breathing/umky45kN">smooth breathing</a> (᾿) indicates the absence of /h/.</li></ul>
Since in Modern Greek the pitch accent has been replaced by a <a href="/facts/Stress_(linguistics)/rsHpCK5H">dynamic accent (stress)</a>, and /h/ was lost, most polytonic diacritics have no phonetic significance, and merely reveal the underlying Ancient Greek <a href="/facts/Etymology/18QG6y67">etymology</a>.
Monotonic orthography (from <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek_language/LIK7NlUh">Ancient Greek</a> μόνος (mónos) 'single' and τόνος (tónos) 'accent') is the standard system for <a href="/facts/Modern_Greek/nFsDHrfR">Modern Greek</a>. It retains two diacritics: 

<ul><li>single accent or tonos (΄) that indicates <a href="/facts/Stress_(linguistics)/rsHpCK5H">stress</a>, and</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Diaeresis_(diacritic)/FsYeoSzC">diaeresis</a> (¨), which usually indicates a <a href="/facts/Hiatus_(linguistics)/DInsUYDx">hiatus</a> but occasionally indicates a <a href="/facts/Diphthong/K8tWRvsx">diphthong</a>: compare modern Greek παϊδάκια (/paiˈðaka/, "lamb chops"), with a diphthong, and παιδάκια (/peˈðaka/, "little children") with a <a href="/facts/Monophthong/WAvkRHd4">simple vowel</a>.</li></ul>
A tonos and a diaeresis can be combined on a single vowel to indicate a stressed vowel after a hiatus, as in the verb ταΐζω (/taˈizo/, "I feed").
Although it is not a diacritic, the <a href="/facts/Hypodiastole/85ALjRqQ">hypodiastole</a> (<a href="/facts/Comma/mcW9dcGT">comma</a>) has in a similar way the function of a sound-changing diacritic in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι (ó,ti, "whatever") from ότι (óti, "that").

Greek diacritics open-in-new

Greek diacritics