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αι
the letter combination 'ai' (a digraph pronounced like 'e') /e/
nounB2#2851 most common
Also: the digraph αι, the diphthong 'ai' (historical)
Example sentences
Το «αι» ακούγεται σαν το «ε».
The 'ai' sounds like 'e'.
Στη λέξη «παιδί» το «αι» προφέρεται /e/.
In the word 'paidi', the 'ai' is pronounced /e/.
Πολλές λέξεις με «αι» γράφονται έτσι για ιστορικούς λόγους.
Many words with 'ai' are spelled that way for historical reasons.
Στην αρχαία ελληνική, το «αι» ήταν δίφθογγος και προφερόταν /ai̯/.
In Ancient Greek, 'ai' was a diphthong and was pronounced /ai̯/.
Η μονοφθογγοποίηση του «αι» σε /e/ ολοκληρώθηκε γύρω στον πρώτο αιώνα μ.Χ.
The monophthongization of 'ai' into /e/ was completed around the first century AD.
Η γραφή «αι» διατηρήθηκε ετυμολογικά, παρότι η προφορά συνέπεσε με του «ε», φαινόμενο ανάλογο με τον ιωτακισμό.
The spelling 'ai' was kept for etymological reasons, even though its pronunciation merged with that of 'e', a phenomenon similar to iotacism.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | το αι | τα αι |
| Genitive | του αι | των αι |
| Accusative | το αι | τα αι |
| Vocative | αι | αι |
Word family
έψιλονthe letter epsilon, which shares the /e/ sound with αι
γιώταthe letter iota, the second component of the digraph
ιωτακισμόςiotacism, the broader Greek sound shift toward /i/ and /e/
αϊ (with dieresis)written with two dots to show the letters are pronounced separately, as in dialectal 'Αϊ-Γιώργης' (Saint George)
Etymology
In Ancient Greek, αι was a true diphthong, pronounced roughly like English 'eye' (/ai̯/). Over the course of the Koine period, its sound gradually shifted and merged with the vowel ε, so that by the early centuries AD it was pronounced /e/. Modern Greek kept the old spelling even though the pronunciation had changed, which is why παιδί sounds like 'pedi', not 'paidi'.
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