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Greek Alphabet & Glossary

Greek Alphabet

		Alpha (al-fah)			Beta (bay-tah)			Gamma (gam-ah)			Delta (del-tah)
		Epsilon (ep-si-lon)			Zeta (zay-tah)			Eta (at-ah)			Theta (thay-tah)
		Iota (eye-o-tah)			Kappa (cap-ah)			Lambda (lamb-da)			Mu (mew)
		Nu (new)			Xi (zEYE)			Omicron (om-e-cron)			Pi (pie)
		Rho (roe)			Sigma (sig-ma)			Tau (taw)			Upsilon (opp-si-lon)
		Phi (fie) or (fee)			Chi (kEYE)			Psi (sigh)			Omega (o-may-gah)

Glossary of Greek Terms

• Active - A person who has been initiated into lifelong membership in a Greek organization. Also called a Member.
• Alumna - A graduated member of a Women's Sorority/fraternity: Plural Alumnae. Alumnae often support chapter activities through donations, assistance with advising, employment of undergraduates, etc.
• Alumni Association - An organization of alumni from an individual fraternity or sorority. The association may be based on geographical location or chapter.
• Alumnus - A graduated member of a Men's fraternity: Plural Alumni. Alumni often support chapter activities through donations, assistance with advising, employment of undergraduates, etc.
• Associate Member - A person who has accepted the bid of a Greek organization, received the associate member pin, and is engaged in preparing for initiation, but who has not yet been initiated into full membership.
• Associate Membership - The term used to describe the period of time that an individual is an Associate Member.

• Badge - The pin of an initiated member.
• Bid - An invitation to become a member of a fraternity or sorority.
• Big Brother/Sister - An older member assigned to assist a new member or associate member.
• Brother - An initiated member of a fraternity. It is used as a term of address when an initiated member refers to another member.

• Chapter - The local campus group of an International fraternity or sorority.
• Chapter Advisor - An alumna/alumnus who establishes and maintains a close advisory relationship with a chapter and serves as a teacher, counselor, and friend.
• Colony - A newly-organized group working toward becoming a chartered chapter of an international fraternity or sorority.
• Continuous Open Bidding (COB) - The process of inviting new members to join outside of the usual Formal Recruitment period. It is in the best interest of potential new members to attend Formal Rush/Recruitment as not all chapters follow a COB process.

• Depledge - The process of terminating one's fraternity membership (pledging) before initiation.

• Faculty Staff Advisor - An Illinois State faculty member who is the organization's representative to the university and who advises the organization on university matters.
• Fraternity - A men's Greek organization. Some sororities are identified as a fraternity in their official name; others describe themselves as being a "woman's fraternity."

• Greek Council - The governing body of the fraternities and sororities at Illinois State University. It is made up of representatives from the campus chapters and governs inter-chapter relationships, joint Greek activities, recruitment, expansion, and other such activities. It is empowered by the university to recognize individual Greek organizations at Illinois State.
• Greek Organization - A fraternity or sorority (social, honour, or professional) Also see Greeks.
• Greeks - Members of a fraternity or sorority. The term Greek is used because a majority of fraternities and sororities use Greek letters to distinguish themselves.

• Hazing - Any conduct which subjects another person, whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or psychologically, to anything that may endanger, abuse, degrade, or intimidate the person as a condition of association with a group or organization, regardless of the person's consent or lack of consent. Illinois State has a NO HAZING policy and takes strict action against any fraternity or sorority that participates in hazing activities.
• House
  1. The residence of a Greek organization.
  2. An informal reference to an individual's Greek organization.
• House Corporation - A legal entity holding title to, or leasing, any real property (land and buildings) for a chapter's living/meeting purposes. This alumni body has basic responsibilities relative to property ownership and maintenance.

• Inactive Member - A member who has no material participation in undergraduate chapter activities, such as social activities, living in the chapter house or voting at undergraduate chapter meetings.
• Informal Recruitment - A continuous, open rush period with no specific, scheduled, system-wide activities of rushing and pledging. Bids may be extended and accepted at any time - see also Continuous Open Bidding.
• Initiation - A formal ceremony in which an individual becomes a full member of a Greek organization.
• Interest Group - A group of individuals on campus in the first stage of the process leading to installation as a chapter of a Greek-letter organization.

• Legacy - A son/daughter, brother/sister, grandson/granddaughter or nephew/niece of a fraternity/sorority member.

• Member - See Active.

• National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) - The governing body for 26 national and international women's fraternities/sororities.
• National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) - The governing body of nine historically black Greek-lettered fraternities and sororities.
• New Member - See Pledge.
• New Member Program - A time before initiation during which new members learn about their fraternity, its new members, activities, and responsibilities.
• North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) - The governing body for 66 national and international men's fraternities.

• Philanthropy - Community service events done by fraternities and sororities to raise money for local and national charities. Each organization has their own philanthropy to which they donate time, money, and energy.

• Recruitment Chair - The person from each fraternity or sorority who is in charge of each chapter's recruitment process.
• Recruitment - A program (and period of time) of membership recruitment by Greek organizations. Recruitment is primarily a process for exchanging information. Fraternity and sorority members give information about their respective organizations to potential new members (Rushees). Rushees provide information about themselves and inquire about the missions, philosophies, financial obligations, Alumni opportunities, and membership commitment of the organization that he or she is interested in joining. It is an active process on both sides to ensure that new members are properly matched with a Greek Letter Organization (GLO). Every fraternity is not for every potential new member and vice versa.
• Ritual - The traditional beliefs and oaths of a sorority or fraternity usually used in reference to the Ceremonies of Initiation as well as weekly chapter meetings. These traditions do not include any forms of hazing, because hazing weakens the bonds of brotherhood / sisterhood, and undermines the common experience of the fraternity or sorority. Ritual does however, ensure that all members share a common experience across multiple campuses and generations.
• Rushee - A person who is going through recruitment to join a Greek organization

• Sister - An initiated member of a sorority/women's fraternity. It is used as a form of address when one initiated member is refers to another member.
• Sorority - An individual woman's Greek organization. This is the term commonly used to distinguish between men's (fraternity) and women's (sorority) organizations. As noted previously, some sororities are identified as a fraternity in their official name.

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