omicron

plural omicrons · plural omicra · alternative Omicron · alternative omikron · alternative Omikron · alternative o · alternative O · alternative Ο · alternative ο

1. capitalizedsometimesThe 15th letter of the Classical and Modern Greek alphabets (16th in Ancient and Old Greek), used in ordering lists as in naming (astronomy) the 15th star of a constellation or (epidemiology) the 15th discovered major variant of a disease.

   ... They include Mira itself (omicron Ceti) which can be seen shortly before dawn.

   1992 July, Astronomy Now, No. 36, p. 1

   3 more examples

   Your Majestie knows that unfortunate I [...] was the first who when I published my Poem of Italia Liberata endeavoured to bring the Omicron, Eupselon, Omega, and other Greek Letters, which I thought very requisite for that language, into my own Tongue;

   1656 [1612], Henry, Earl of Monmouth, transl., I Raggvagli di Parnasso: or Advertisements from Parnassus, London: Humphrey Moseley, translation of De Ragguagli di Parnaso by Traiano Boccalini, page 180

   The E serves both for the Epsilon and Eta; the O, both for the Omicron and Omega, and likewise for the diphthong OΥ.

   1750 [1748 January 10], James Russel, “Letter LI”, in Letters from a Young Painter Abroad to his Friends in England, volume II, London: W. Russel, page 120

   There are now seven “variants of interest” or “variants of concern” and they each have a Greek letter, according to a W.H.O. tracking page. Some other variants with Greek letters do not reach those classification levels, and the W.H.O. also skipped two letters just before Omicron — “Nu” and “Xi” — leading to speculation about whether “Xi” was avoided in deference to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

   2021 November 27, Vimal Patel, “How Omicron, the New Covid-19 Variant, Got Its Name”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2022

alternative Omicron · alternative omikron · alternative Omikron · alternative o · alternative O · alternative Ο · alternative ο

1. abbreviationellipsisuncountablebiologyEllipsis of Omicron variant.

1. abbreviationellipsisuncountablebiologyEllipsis of Omicron variant.

plural Omicrons · plural Omicra

1. alternativecountableAlternative form of omicron (Greek letter) (especially in the majuscule form)

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of Omicron Hill: a mountain in North Slope borough, Alaska, United States.