English to Greek Transliteration

Common questions

What is the difference between transliteration and translation?

Transliteration swaps the letters and keeps the word: kalimera becomes καλημερα, the same word written in the Greek alphabet. Translation would give you the meaning, good morning. This page only does letters, in both directions, so an English name like Marina comes back as Μαρινα rather than as a Greek word that means something similar.

Which transliteration scheme does it use?

Modern Greek uses ELOT 743, the standard behind Greek passports: η is i, β is v, φ is f, χ is ch, ω is o, and αυ is av or af depending on the sound after it. The ancient page uses the classical scheme instead, where η is ē, β is b, φ is ph, a rough breathing is an h and an iota subscript is an i. Whichever is running, its full table is printed under the tool.

How do I type th, ch and ps?

As they sound. th gives θ, ch or kh gives χ, ph or f gives φ, ps gives ψ, x or ks gives ξ, ou gives ου, mp gives μπ, nt gives ντ and gk gives γκ. Pairs are matched before single letters, and an h group beats the pair in front of it, so Anthony is Ανθονυ and never Αντχονυ, and Memphis is Μεμφις.

What happens to accents?

Going into Greek, none are added: kalimera comes out καλημερα rather than καλημέρα, because the Latin spelling does not say where the stress falls. Coming out of Greek, the tonos is dropped, so χαρά is chara. On the ancient page the marks that change the sound are kept: a rough breathing becomes an h and an iota subscript becomes an i, so ἡμέρα is hēmera and ᾠδή is ōidē.

Why does kalimera come out with an η?

Because Greek writes that one sound five ways, ι, η, υ, ει and οι, and the Latin letters cannot say which one a word takes. The letters alone write ι, which is right far more often than not, and about forty common Greek words whose spelling the letters would get wrong are held in a list and used when the whole word matches: καλημερα, Αθηνα, ευχαριστω, Κρητη. The tool says on screen whenever one of them fired, and any word outside the list is spelled straight from its letters.

Does a word-final s really change letter?

Yes, and it is the giveaway that a page was done by hand. Greek writes σ everywhere except at the end of a word, where it writes ς: kosmos is κοσμος, with σ in the middle and ς at the end, and Christos is Χριστος. Capitals have no final form, so ALEXANDROS is ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ.

Is anything uploaded?

No. The transliteration runs in your browser, so nothing is sent anywhere and there is no account. It handles up to 20,000 characters in one pass, which is a long chapter, and once the page has loaded it keeps working with no connection at all.