- In the OS settings, go to "keyboard" and select a "Compose Key." I like to use "Print Screen"
- Edit (or create) ~/.XCompose to include the following:
# Capital Letters
<Multi_key> <G> : "Γ" U0393 # GAMMA
<Multi_key> <D> : "Δ" U0394 # DELTA
<Multi_key> <L> : "Λ" U039B # LAMDA
<Multi_key> <P> : "Π" U03A0 # PI
<Multi_key> <S> : "Σ" U03A3 # SIGMA
<Multi_key> <F> : "Φ" U03A6 # PHI
<Multi_key> <O> : "Ω" U03A9 # OMEGA
<Multi_key> <T> : "Θ" U0398 # THETA
<Multi_key> <X> : "Ξ" U039E # XI
<Multi_key> <P> <s> : "Ψ" U03A8 # PSI
# Lower Case Letters
<Multi_key> <a> : "α" U03B1 # ALPHA
<Multi_key> <b> : "β" U03B2 # BETA
<Multi_key> <g> : "γ" U03B3 # GAMMA
<Multi_key> <d> : "δ" U03B4 # DELTA
<Multi_key> <e> : "ε" U03B5 # EPSILON
<Multi_key> <z> : "ζ" U03B6 # ZETA
<Multi_key> <h> : "η" U03B7 # ETA
<Multi_key> <i> : "ι" U03B9 # IOTA
<Multi_key> <k> : "κ" U03BA # KAPPA
<Multi_key> <l> : "λ" U03BB # LAMDA
<Multi_key> <m> : "μ" U03BC # MU
<Multi_key> <n> : "ν" U03BD # NU
<Multi_key> <p> : "π" U03C0 # PI
<Multi_key> <r> : "ρ" U03C1 # RHO
<Multi_key> <s> : "σ" U03C3 # SIGMA
<Multi_key> <t> : "τ" U03C4 # TAU
<Multi_key> <u> : "υ" U03C5 # UPSILON
<Multi_key> <f> : "φ" U03C6 # PHI
<Multi_key> <o> : "ω" U03C9 # OMEGA
<Multi_key> <x> : "ξ" U03BE # XI
<Multi_key> <t> <h> : "θ" U03B8 # THETA
<Multi_key> <p> <s> : "ψ" U03C8 # PSI
- Reboot the computer.
You should now be able to type greek letters by pressing (and releasing) Print Screen and then one of the characters:
Capital Greek Letters:
- G - Γ
- D - Δ
- L - Λ
- P - Π
- S - Σ
- F - Φ
- O - Ω
- X - Ξ
- Ps - Ψ
Lower Case Greek Letters:
- a - α
- b - β
- g - γ
- d - δ
- e - ε
- z - ζ
- h - η
- i - ι
- k - κ
- l - λ
- m - μ
- n - ν
- p - π
- r - ρ
- s - σ
- t - τ
- u - υ
- f - φ
- o - ω
- x - ξ
- th - θ
- ps - ψ
For simplicity, I have left out the capital Greek letters that look like Latin letters.
Note: Despite what forex traders might tell you, there is no greek letter "vega." I think they are confusing nu, (ν).
You can find a list of all available characters at
/usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose