What is "sampi"

n. 1 The obsolete Greek letter Ϡ, ϡ. 2 The numeral 900.

Sampi (modern: ϡ; ancient shapes: , ) is an archaic letter of the Greek alphabet. It was used as an addition to the classical 24-letter alphabet in some eastern Ionic dialects of ancient Greek in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, to denote some type of a sibilant sound, probably or , and was abandoned when the sound disappeared from Greek. It later remained in use as a numeral symbol for 900 in the alphabetic (" Milesian") system of Greek numerals. Its modern shape, which resembles a π inclining to the right with a longish curved cross-stroke, developed during its use as a numeric symbol in minuscule handwriting of the Byzantine era. Its current name, sampi, originally probably meant "san pi", i.e. "like a pi", and is also of medieval origin. The letter's original name in antiquity is not known. It has been proposed that sampi was a continuation of the archaic letter san, which was originally shaped like an M and denoted the sound in some other dialects. Besides san, names that have been proposed for sampi include parakyisma and angma, while other historically attested terms for it are enacosis, sincope, and o charaktir.

Sampi may refer to:

• Sampi, an obsolete letter of the Greek alphabet
• Everlyn Sampi, Australian actress
• Ashley Sampi, Australian rules footballer