upsilon

[ yoop-suh-lon, -luhn, uhp-; especially British yoop-sahy-luhn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ).
the vowel sound represented by this letter.
Also called upsilon particle. Physics. any of a family of heavy, short-lived, neutral mesons that are composed of a bottom quark and its antiquark. : Υ, υ

upsilon

/ ˈʌpsɪˌlɒn; juːpˈsaɪlən /

noun

the 20th letter in the Greek alphabet (Υ, υ), a vowel, transliterated as y or u

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Word History and Origins

Origin of upsilon¹

First recorded in 1615–25; from Late Greek ŷ psīlón, literally, “simple u ” (to distinguish it from the digraph oi, pronounced the same in Late Greek )

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Word History and Origins

Origin of upsilon¹

C17: from Medieval Greek u psilon simple u, name adopted for graphic u to avoid confusion with graphic oi, since pronunciation was the same for both in Late Greek

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Example Sentences

This principle gave to the Greek alphabet the new signs φ, χ, υ, ω.

From Project Gutenberg

The editors print Olympia, but the use of y to represent Greek υ did not come in till long after the time of Ennius.

From Project Gutenberg

The two latter tubes are soldered to the bottoms of the vessels, and in each of these vessels there is a siphon, Ρ Σ and Τ Υ.

From Project Gutenberg

Hyoid, hī′oid, adj. having the form of the Greek letter upsilon (υ), applied to a bone at the base of the tongue.

From Project Gutenberg

The two close stars υ and κ Tauri were called al-kalbaïn, the dogs of Aldebaran.

From Project Gutenberg

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