Omega
nounThe twenty-fourth and last letter of the Greek alphabet, often used figuratively to mean the final or ultimate thing.
How to spell omega
5 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce omega
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does omega mean?
- nounThe twenty-fourth and last letter of the Greek alphabet, often used figuratively to mean the final or ultimate thing.
Omega in a sentence
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In physics the symbol for electrical resistance is the Greek letter omega.
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The watch brand spells its name with the Greek letter omega on the dial.
Where does omega come from?
Language of origin: Greek
Omega is the twenty-fourth and final letter of the Greek alphabet, and its name comes straight from Greek o mega, which means 'great O' or 'big O'. The Greeks coined this label to distinguish the long open vowel from its shorter partner, which they called omicron, meaning 'small O' (o mikron). Because it sits at the very end of the alphabet, omega came to stand for the last thing, the conclusion, or the ultimate point, a sense made famous by the biblical phrase 'I am the Alpha and the Omega', pairing the first letter with the last. English picked the word up directly from Greek, with Latin as a way-station, and has used it since the late medieval period. The same mega element, meaning 'great', survives in everyday words such as megaphone and megabyte, which is a handy reminder that the tricky middle of the spelling is simply 'mega'.
How the word is built
- o (the letter O)
- mega (great); literally 'great O', the long-O letter, as opposed to omicron, the 'small O'
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