Although the Greek alphabet is an ancestor of the English alphabet, the order and shape of the English letters are essentially the same as that of the Latin alphabet. Since most Greek words came into English through Latin, it has had the greatest influence on the transliteration of Greek for use in English.

The Latin alphabet is a modification of one of the many Greek alphabets. The order and shape of the Latin letters is the same as English except that the Classical Latin alphabet had no j, u, or w; which were introduced sometime during the Middle Ages.

The Greek alphabet used today is based on the one that was used in Athens by the end of the fifth century B.C. The table shows the modern English pronunciation of each ancient Greek character as it is now generally used in English. Modern Greeks have different pronunciations for many of the Greek letters presented here.