Plainly
look up a word, understand it — no rabbit hole
alpha
nounAL-fuh
meaning in plain English
Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, shown as Α or α.
for example
The lab called the new virus strain the alpha variant.
Imagine a list of letters; the one at the very top is alpha, just like A is the first letter in English. That’s why people often refer to an "alpha" version before the final release.