Romanization of Greek

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There are several methods for the romanization of Greek, especially depending whether the language written with Greek letters is Ancient Greek or Modern Greek and whether a phonetic transcription or a graphemic transliteration is intended.

Table

This table lists several transcription schemes from the Greek alphabet to the Latin alphabet.

Greek	Ancient			Modern
Greek	Clas- sical	Scien- tific	Beta code	ISO	BGN/ PCGN	UN/ ELOT	Greeklish^†
α	a	a	A	a	a	a	a
β	b	b	B	v	v	v	b, v
γ	g	g	G	g	g, y¹	g	g, y
δ	d	d	D	d	dh, d²	d	d, dh
ε	e	e	E	e	e	e	e
ζ	z	z, (dz)	Z	z	z	z	z, s
η	e	ē	H	ī	i	i	h, i, n
θ	th	th	Q	th	th	th	th, u, 8, 9, q
ι	i	i	I	i	i	i	i
κ	c	k	K	k	k	k	k, c
λ	l	l	L	l	l	l	l
μ	m	m	M	m	m	m	m
ν	n	n	N	n	n	n	n, v
ξ	x	x	C	x	x	x	ks, 3, x, j
ο	o	o	O	o	o	o	o
π	p	p	P	p	p	p	p, n
ρ	r, rh³	r, (rh³)	R	r	r	r	r, p
σ	s	s	S	s	s⁴	s	s, 6, w
τ	t	t	T	t	t	t	t, 7
υ	y	y, (u)	U	y	i	y	y, u, i
φ	ph	ph	F	f	f	f	f, ph
χ	ch	ch	X	ch	kh	ch	ch, x, h
ψ	ps	ps	Y	ps	ps	ps	ps, y
ω	o	ō	W	ō	o	o	w, o, v

Vowel digraphs¹¹
Greek	Ancient			Modern
Greek	Clas- sical	Scien- tific	Beta code	ISO	BGN/ PCGN	UN/ ELOT	Greeklish^†
αι	ae, e	ai	AI	ai	e	ai	ai, e
αυ	au	au	AU	au	av	av⁵, af⁶	ay, au, af, av
ει	i	ei	EI	ei	i	ei	ei, i
ευ	eu	eu	EU	eu	ev	ev⁵, ef⁶	ey, eu, ef, ev
ηυ	eu	ēu	HU	īy	iv	iv⁵, if⁶	hy, hu, if, iv
οι	oe, e	oi	OI	oi	i	oi	oi, i
ου	u	ou	OU	ou	u	ou	ou, u, oy
υι	ui	ui	UI	yi	i	yi	yi, gi, i

Consonant digraphs
Greek	Ancient			Modern
Greek	Clas- sical	Scien- tific	Beta code	ISO	BGN/ PCGN	UN/ ELOT	Greeklish^†
γγ	ng	ng	GG	gg	ng	ng	gg, gk, ng
γξ	nx	nx	GC	gx	nx	nx	gks, gx
γκ	nc	nk	GK	gk	g⁷, ng⁸	gk	gk
γχ	nch	nch	GX	gch	nkh	nch	nx, nch
μπ	mp	mp	MP	mp	b⁷, mb⁸	b⁷, mp⁸	mp, b, mb
ντ	nt	nt	NT	nt	d⁷, nd⁸	nt	nt, d, nd

Modifiers (only classical Greek)
Greek	Ancient
Greek	Clas- sical	Scien- tific	Beta code
̔	h⁹	h⁹	(	(spiritus asper, δασεῖα)
̓	none	none	)	(spiritus lenis, ψιλή)
ͺ	i?	i?	\|	(iota subscript, ὑπογεγραμμένη)¹⁰

Archaic letters
Greek	Ancient
Greek	Clas- sical	Scien- tific	Beta code
ϝ	w		V	(digamma)
ϛ	st		#2	(stigma)
ϻ	s, ś		#711	(san)
ϸ	sh			(sho)
ϟ	q		#3	(qoppa)
ϡ	ss		#5	(sampi/disigma)

Notes:

before αι, ε, ει, η, ι, οι, υ, υι.
between ν and ρ.
with spiritus asper.
sometimes doubled between vowels (ex. Larissa).
before β, γ, δ, ζ, λ, μ, ν, ρ and vowels.
before θ, κ, ξ, π, σ, τ, φ, χ, ψ and at the end of a word.
at the beginning of a word.
in the middle of a word.
on vowel: h before the vowel; on ρ: rh.
under long vowels.
except when there is a diaeresis ( ¨ ) on the second vowel

† The use of 'Greeklish' (here: writing Greek in the Latin alphabet) has risen enormously with the advent of SMSs, email, online chatting, and other digital media, where Greek fonts are not always readily available.

Examples:

Θέλω → Thelo or 8elw etc
Ξανά → Ksana or Xana etc
Ψυχή → Psyxh or Yuhi etc