When a Greek
word begins either with a vowel
or a rho
, the first letter
must have a breathing
mark above it. There are two breathing marks, one that looks like (
, and one that looks like )
. The (
) simply indicates that you must pronounce
sound before the word
, the )
) indicates that there is no h.
A rho will always have rough breathing, without exception. This is why English words which derive from Greek words which begin with rho are spelled in English beginning with rh.