teleia

Teleia, written in Greek as τελεία, is the term for the period or full stop in Greek punctuation. It marks the end of a declarative sentence and serves as the Greek equivalent of the English period. The word itself derives from telos, meaning end or completion, reflecting its role in signaling the close of a thought.

In modern Greek typography, the teleia appears at the end of sentences and at the end of certain abbreviations. It is typically placed immediately after the final word, followed by a space before the next sentence. Greek punctuation includes other marks such as the question mark and the exclamation point, but the teleia remains the primary sentence terminator in standard prose.

Historically, Greek punctuation evolved from a system of marks to clarify rhythm and structure; today, the teleia is used consistently in printed and digital text, alongside other punctuation. In written Greek, the teleia is usually a single dot. In digital encoding, the teleia is represented by the standard period character (U+002E) in Unicode, the same character used in other languages.

See also: Greek punctuation; orthography; typography.