epsilon
ep·si·lon/ˈɛp.sɪˌlɑn/noun
epsilon is spelled E-P-S-I-L-O-N: 7 letters and 3 syllables (ep·si·lon). It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, epsilon means “The fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, ε or Ε, preceded by delta (Δ, δ) and followed by zeta (Ζ, ζ)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of epsilon is epsilons or epsila.
How many letters and syllables are in epsilon?
| Letters | 7: E-P-S-I-L-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: ep·si·lon |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 33,636th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is epsilon?
Epsilon appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 33,636th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce epsilon?
- UK /ɛpˈsaɪ.lən/
- UK /ˈɛp.sɪˌlɒn/
- US /ˈɛp.sɪˌlɑn/
Epsilon has 3 syllables, split ep·si·lon in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-epsilon.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of epsilon
- epsilons plural
- epsila plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does epsilon mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, ε or Ε, preceded by delta (Δ, δ) and followed by zeta (Ζ, ζ).
- 2
In IPA, the phonetic symbol ɛ that represents the open-mid front unrounded vowel.
- 3
An arbitrarily small quantity.
- 4
colloquialA small child.
- 5
colloquialSomething negligible or insignificant.
Yes, we have to convert all the symbol names to upper case at startup, but that’s epsilon.
- 6
The percentage change in an option value with respect to the underlying dividend yield.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Epsilon in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense name for the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does epsilon come from?
From Ancient Greek ἒ ψιλόν (è psilón, “simple Ε”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).