omega

Omega (majuscule;Greek) is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means “great O” (ō mega, mega meaning ‘great’), as opposed to Omicron, which means “little O” (o mikron, micron meaning “little”). This name is Byzantine; in Classical Greek, the letter was called ō (ὦ), whereas the Omicron was called ou (οὖ). The form of the lowercase letter derives from a double omicron, which came to be written open at the top, whereas the uppercase derives from an underlined omicron, which came to be open at the bottom.

Phonetically, the Ancient Greek is a long open-mido, equal to the vowel of English raw. In Modern Greek represents the same sound as omicron. The letter omega is transcribed ō or simply o.

Omega (the last letter of the Greek alphabet) is often used to denote the last, the end, or the ultimate limit of a set, in contrast to Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the New Testament book of Revelation, God is declared to be the “alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last”.

Omega was also adopted into the early Cyrillic alphabet. See Cyrillic omega. A Raetic variant is conjectured to be at the origin or parallel evolution of the Elder Futhark.