The Coptic Language

Coptic is the language of the Copts, the indigenous Egyptian Christians which represents the final stage of the ancient the Egyptian language. It is in use in the liturgical services of the Coptic Church.

• Origin and Evolution of the Coptic Language by Deacon Dr. Medhat Wassef
• Interested in typing in Coptic on your computer?
• Learn Common Coptic Greetings

The Coptic Alphabet

The present 32 letters of the Coptic Alphabet are derived from two sources; The first 25 letters are modified from the Greek alphabet (table 1); it should be remembered that the origin of these Greek letters can be traced back to the old Egyptian letters. Whereas the last 7 letters are a modification from Demotic letters (table 2).

Shape			Letter	Pronunciation
Ⲁ	ⲁ	Alpha	A	father or fan
Ⲃ	ⲃ	Veeta	B In beginning of the word V In the middle or the end of the word	boy Victor
Ⲅ	ⲅ	Ghamma	G Gh NG if there are two consecutive <>Ⲅ	Gone England
Ⲇ	ⲇ	Delta	TH D in names	then David
Ⲉ	ⲉ	Ei	E	pen, or as rain
Ⲋ	ⲋ	Soo	Only used as the numeral 6	sow
Ⲍ	ⲍ	Zeeta	Z	zebra
Ⲏ	ⲏ	Eeta	EE	meet
Ⲑ	ⲑ	Theeta	Th T	think
Ⲓ	ⲓ	Iota	I Y	imagine yet
Ⲕ	ⲕ	Kappa	K	cook
Ⲗ	ⲗ	Lamda	L	look
Ⲙ	ⲙ	Mei	M	mother
Ⲛ	ⲛ	Nei	N	Nancy
Ⲝ	ⲝ	Eksee	X	box
Ⲟ	ⲟ	O	O (short)	not
Ⲡ	ⲡ	Pee	P	Peter
Ⲣ	ⲣ	Ro	R	room
Ⲥ	ⲥ	Seema	S	see
Ⲧ	ⲧ	Tav	T D if preceded by the letter <>Ⲛ	take
Ⲩ	ⲩ	Epsilon	V if follows an <>Ⲁ or <>Ⲉ U if follows the letter <>Ⲟ Y in all other cases	Van Loop Hymn
Ⲫ	ⲫ	Fei	F	fan
Ⲭ	ⲭ	Kai	K Sh Kh	kin shawl Arabic خ (kh)
Ⲯ	ⲯ	Epsee	PS (both are pronounced)
Ⲱ	ⲱ	O	O (Long)	throw
Ϣ	ϣ	Shai	Sh	shake
Ϥ	ϥ	Fai	F	fan
Ϧ	ϧ	Khai	Kh	Arabic خ (kh)
Ϩ	ϩ	Horee	H	house
Ϭ	ϭ	Cheema	Ch	church
Ϯ	ϯ	Tee	Tee	tee
Ϫ	ϫ	Janja	G J	go joy
̀		Jinkim	Splits word in syllables if over a vowel E if followed by a consonant

Coptic Fonts and How-to type in Coptic