alpha
pronunciation
How to pronounce alpha in British English:
UK [ˈælfə]
How to pronounce alpha in American English:
US ['ælfə]
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- Noun:
- the 1st letter of the Greek alphabet
- the beginning of a series or sequence
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- Adjective:
- first in order of importance
- early testing stage of a software or hardware product
Word Origin
- alpha (n.)
- c. 1300, from Latin alpha, from Greek alpha, from Hebrew or Phoenician aleph (see aleph). The Greeks added -a because Greek words cannot end in most consonants. Sense of "beginning of anything" is from late 14c., often paired with omega (last letter in the Greek alphabet) as "the end." Sense of "first in a sequence" is from 1620s. Alpha male was in use by c. 1960 among scientists studying animals; applied to humans in society from c. 1992.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Chasing alpha : how reckless growth and unchecked ambition ruined the city 's golden decade .
- 2. Wolf packs are supposedly despotic hierarchies dominated by alpha wolves .
- 3. Test method for mounting actinides for alpha spectrometry using neodymium fluoride .
- 4. The new version of wolfram alpha arrives wednesday afternoon .
- 5. The squeeze has spread to retail banks : greek bank alpha lost 5 per cent of its deposits in the third quarter .