Stigma (letter)

Stigma (uppercase Unicode|Ϛ, lowercase Unicode|ϛ) is a ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau, sometimes used in modern times to represent the Greek numeral 6. However, today the letters στUnicode|ʹ (ΣΤUnicode|ʹ, if capitalised) are more widely used to represent the number 6 or the ordinal 6th.It is encoded in Unicode as "Greek letter stigma" U+03DA (Unicode|Ϛ) and "Greek small letter stigma" U+03DB (Unicode|ϛ). In modern typefaces, lowercase stigma is similar in appearance to final sigma (ς), but the top loop tends to be larger, and extends farther to the right. In historical handwriting, various other shapes existed.

'Stigma' is also a name for the cursive graphic form of the letter digamma when used as the Greek numeral 6. This name is a modern misunderstanding. The ligature of στ did not occur in ancient times and only dates to later medieval manuscripts. In Sophocles' Lexicon of Byzantine Greek, which covers late antique Greek up to 1000 AD, there is no mention of "stigma" as either a ligature or a number.

ee also

*Lunate Sigma
*Disigma
*Sampi