Standard Lemma guide

upsilon

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈ(j)uːpsɪˌlɒn/
  • UK: /ˈ(j)ʊpsɪˌlɒn/
  • UK: /ˈʌpsɪˌlɒn/
  • UK: /(j)uːpˈsaɪlən/
  • UK: /(j)ʊpˈsaɪlən/
  • UK: /əpˈsaɪlən/
  • US: /ˈ(j)upsɪˌlɑn/
  • US: /ˈ(j)ʊpsɪˌlɑn/
  • US: /ˈʌpsɪˌlɑn/
  • Canada: /ˈ(j)upsɪˌlɒn/
  • Canada: /(j)ɪu̯psɪˌlɒn/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The twentieth letter of Classical and Modern Greek; the twenty-second letter of Old and Ancient Greek.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An upsilon meson, or bottomonium.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: particle

Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the 20th letter of the Greek alphabet

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: letter, letter of the alphabet, alphabetic character

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὖ ψιλόν (û psilón, “simple Υ”).

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: أُبْسِلُون (ʔubsilūn) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Arabic: أُبْسِيلُون (ʔubsilūn) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Asturian: ípsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Catalan: ípsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Chinese Mandarin: 宇普西龍 /宇普西龙 (yǔpǔxīlóng) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Chinese Mandarin: 埃普西隆 (āipǔxīlóng) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Czech: ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Danish: ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Dutch: upsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Dutch: ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Esperanto: upsilono — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Estonian: üpsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Finnish: ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • French: upsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • German: Ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Greek: ύψιλον (ýpsilon) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Ancient Greek: ὖ ψιλόν (û psilón) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Hebrew: אִיפְּסִילוֹן (ípsilon) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Hungarian: üpszilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Interlingua: ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Irish: upsalón — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Italian: ipsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Japanese: ユプシロン (yupushiron) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Japanese: ウプシロン (upushiron) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Korean: 입실론 (ipsillon) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Malay: upsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Portuguese: ípsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Portuguese: hipsilo — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Portuguese: ipsilone — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Portuguese: ipsilão — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Russian: и́псилон (ípsilon) — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Slovak: ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Spanish: ípsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Swedish: ypsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Turkish: ipsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
  • Turkish: üpsilon — letter of the Greek alphabet
Real reading context

upsilon in complete knowledge articles