alpha

/ˈælfə/

/ˈælfə/

Other forms: alphas

Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Many college fraternities are named after two or three Greek letters, often including an alpha.

Scientists frequently use alpha to mean the first item in a list or series, or the most important item in a group. An uppercase alpha looks identical to a capital A, while the lowercase version is similar but not identical to a small a: α. The Greek alpha comes from the Hebrew and Phoenician aleph, a form of the word for "ox," eleph, possibly because the character resembled an ox's head.

Definitions of alpha

1. noun

   the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet
   type of:

   alphabetic character, letter, letter of the alphabet

   the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech
2. noun

   the beginning of a series or sequence
   “"the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end"--Revelations”

   type of:

   start

   the beginning of anything
3. adjective

   first in order of importance
   “the alpha male in the group of chimpanzees”

   “the alpha star in a constellation is the brightest or main star”

   synonyms:

   important, of import

   of great significance or value
4. adjective

   early testing stage of a software or hardware product
   “alpha version”

   synonyms:

   explorative, exploratory

   serving in or intended for exploration or discovery