Britannica
Sources used in this answer
How did the pronunciation of beta change from Ancient Greek to Modern Greek?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Greek language
Approximate locations of Indo-European languages in contemporary Eurasia.
In Ancient Greek, the letter beta () represented a voiced bilabial stop, the same sound associated with the letter "b" in English.1
Over time, the pronunciation of this letter shifted significantly. By the time of the Byzantine phase of the Greek language, the phonetic value of beta had evolved into a voiced labiodental fricative, or the "v" sound. Consequently, in Modern Greek, the letter is transliterated as "v" rather than "b," reflecting its current pronunciation. This historical shift is also associated with the broader linguistic phenomenon known as betacism, which describes the loss of distinction between "b" and "v" sounds in various languages.123