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The Cyrillic alphabet is an alphabet used to write six natural Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe.
The plan of the alphabet is derived from the Early Cyrillic alphabet, itself a derivative of the Glagolitic alphabet, a 9th century uncial cursive usually credited to two brothers, Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. But the shapes of the glyphs in the Cyrillic alphabet are mainly Byzantine Greek letters, although some letters, especially those representing sounds that did not exist in medieval Greek, retain their Glagolitic forms.
Whereas it is widely accepted that the Glagolitic alphabet, was invented by Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius, the origins of the Early Cyrillic alphabet are still a source of much controversy. Though the alphabet is usually attributed to Saint Climent of Ohrid, a Bulgarian scholar and disciple of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius, the alphabet is most likely to have developed at the Preslav Literary School in northeastern Bulgaria. Preslav was Bulgaria's capital then and the strong Byzantine influence that it experienced might explain the incorporation of Greek letters into the alphabet. The earliest found Cyrillic inscriptions (dating back to the 940s) have also been found in the area around Preslav. The theory is further supported by the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet replaced almost completely the Glagolitic one in northeastern Bulgaria as early as the end of the 10th century, whereas the Ohrid Literary School - where Saint Climent worked - continued to use the Glagolitic alphabet until the 12th century.
There are also other theories regarding the origins of the Cyrillic alphabet, namely that the alphabet was created by Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius themselves, or that it preceded the Glagolitic alphabet representing a "transitional" stage between Greek and Glagolitic cursive although these have been widely disproved. Although Cyril is almost certainly not the author of the Cyrillic alphabet, his contributions to Glagolitic alphabet and hence to the Cyrillic alphabet are still recognised, as the latter is named after him.
Table of Cyrillic letters
(Russian letters bolded; old letters italics)
Languages using Cyrillic
The following languages have used Cyrillic at one time or another:
It is a special property of Cyrillic that the italic shapes of many letters look entirely different from the upright shapes, which can confuse people who have only learned the upright shapes. In Bulgarian and Serbian, some italic letters are different from those used in other languages.
As used in various languages
Sounds are indicated using SAMPA.
These are only approximate indicators.
While these languages by and large have a phonemic orthography, there are occasional exceptions—most notably Russian ЕГО (meaning him/his), which is pronounced /jevO/ instead of /jegO/.
Note that spellings of names may vary, especially Y/J/I but also GH/G/H and ZH/J.)
Slavic languages
Main article: Russian alphabet
| Capital | Small | Name | Sound | transliteration | ISO 9 |
|---|
| А | а | A | /a/ | a |
| Б | б | Be | /b/ | b |
| В | в | Ve | /v/ | v |
| Г | г | Ge | /g/ | g |
| Д | д | De | /d/ | d |
| Е | е | Ye | /jE/ | e |
| Ё | ё | Yo | /jO/ | yo | ë |
| Ж | ж | Zhe | /Z/ | zh | ž |
| З | з | Ze | /z/ | z |
| И | и | I | /i/ | i |
| Й | й | Short I | /j/ | j |
| К | к | Ka | /k/ | k |
| Л | л | El | /l/ | l |
| М | м | Em | /m/ | m |
| Н | н | En | /n/ | n |
| О | о | O | /o/ | o |
| П | п | Pe | /p/ | p |
| Р | р | Er | /r/ | r |
| С | с | Es | /s/ | s |
| Т | т | Te | /t/ | t |
| У | у | U | /u/ | u |
| Ф | ф | Ef | /f/ | f |
| Х | х | Kha | /x/ | kh | h |
| Ц | ц | Tse | /ts/ | c |
| Ч | ч | Che | /tS/ | ch | č |
| Ш | ш | Sha | /S/ | sh | š |
| Щ | щ | Shcha | /Sj/ | shh | ŝ |
| Ъ | ъ | Hard Sign | no palatalisation¹ | '' |
| Ы | ы | Yery | /1/ | y' | y |
| Ь | ь | Soft Sign | /j/ -- palatalisation¹ | ' |
| Э | э | E | /E/ | e' | è |
| Ю | ю | Yu | /ju/ | yu | û |
| Я | я | Ya | /ja/ | ya | â |
Transliteration can be done in many different ways; the most commonly used method of transliteration from Russian to English is presented here. The ISO recommendation ISO 9:1995 ("scientific transliteration") uses one letter for every letter in the Cyrillic alphabet. This results in many accented characters, but it has the advantage of being common to every language, Cyrillic and Latin-based.
Notes on the Hard Sign and Soft Sign:
- When a iotated vowel (vowel whose sound begins with /j/) follows a consonant, the consonant will become palatalised (the /j/ sound will mix with the consonant), and the vowel's /j/ sound will not be heard independently. The Hard Sign will indicate that this does not happen, and the /j/ sound will appear only in front of the vowel. The Soft Sign will indicate the consonant should be palatised, but the vowel's /j/ sound will not mix with the palatalization of the consonant. The Soft Sign will also indicate that a consonant before another consonant or at the end of a word is palatised. Examples: та - ta; тя - tja; тья - tjja; тъя - tja; т - t; ть - tj.
- In the pre-reform Russian orthography, in Old Russian and in Old Church Slavonic the letter is called yer. Historically, the "hard sign" takes the place of a now-absent vowel, still preserved in Bulgarian. See the notes for Bulgarian.
Historical letters:
Before 1918, there were four extra letters in use: Іі (replaced by Ии), Ѳѳ (Фита "Fita", replaced by Фф), Ѣѣ (Ять "Yat", replaced by Ее), and Ѵѵ (ижица "Izhitsa", replaced by Ии).
Main article: Ukrainian alphabet.
Differences from the Russian alphabet:
- Г is a voiced fricative consonant and is called "Ge". Between Ge and De is the letter Ghe (Ґ, ґ), pronounced /g/, i.e., like a Russian Г. It looks like Ge but has an "upturn" pointing up from the right side of the top bar. (This letter was not officially used in the Soviet Union, so it doesn't appear in many Cyrillic fonts.)
- Ye is pronounced /E/ and is called "E". Yo does not appear. Between E and Zhe is the letter Ye (Є, є), pronounced /jE/, which looks like the Russian letter E, only backwards. The Russian letter E does not appear.
- I is pronounced /1/ and is called "Y". Accordingly, Short I is called "Short Y". Between Y and Short Y appear the letter I (І, і), pronounced /i/, which looks like the Latin letter I, and the letter Yi (Ї, ї), pronounced /ji/, which looks like I with a diaeresis (the same two dots that appear in the Russian letter Yo) above it.
- Yery does not appear.
- The Hard Sign is not used; instead, its purpose is served by an apostrophe.
Like Russian except:
- I looks like the Latin letter I (І, і). (But short I still looks the same as in Russian!)
- Between U and Ef is the letter U short (Ў, ў), which looks like U (У) with a breve and pronounced /w/, or like the "u" part in diphthongs in "now", "low".
- Shcha (Щщ) does not appear. A combination of sh and ch (ШЧ/шч) is used instead.
- The Hard Sign is not used. Its purpose (removing of palatalisation) is served by an apostrophe.
- Г represents a voiced fricative consonant
Like Russian except:
- Ye is pronounced /E/ and is called "E".
- Yo does not appear.
- The Russian letter E does not appear.
- Shcha is pronounced /Sht/ and is called "Shta".
- The Hard Sign is used for a vowel, /@/ (Schwa).
- Yery does not appear.
Like Russian except:
- Ye is pronounced /E/ . Yo does not appear. The Russian letter E does not appear.
- Between D and E is the letter Gj (Ђ, ђ), which is pronounced /dj/, and looks like Tjerv, except that the loop of the H curls farther and dips downwards.
- Short I does not appear. Between I and K is the letter Ej (Ј, ј), pronounced /j/, which looks like the Latin letter J.
- Between E and E is the letter Lj (Љ, љ), pronounced /lj/, which looks like L and the Soft Sign smashed together.
- Between n and O is the letter Nj (Њ, њ), pronounced /nj/, which looks like N and the Soft Sign smashed together.
- Between T and U is the letter Tj (Ћ, ћ), which is pronounced /tj/ and looks like a lowercase Latin letter H with a bar. On the uppercase letter, the bar appears at the top; on the lowercase letter, the bar crosses the top half of the vertical line.
- Between Ch and S is the letter Dzh (Џ, џ), pronounced /dZ/, which looks like Ts but with the downturn moved from the right side of the bottom bar to the middle of the bottom bar.
- Sh is the last letter; the rest do not appear.
Like Serbian except:
- Between Ze and I is the letter Dze (Ѕ, ѕ), pronounced /dz/, which looks like the Latin letter S.
- Djerv is replaced by Gje (Ѓ, ѓ), pronounced /gj/, which looks like Ghe with an acute accent (').
- Tjerv is replaced by Kja (Ќ, ќ), pronounced /kj/, which looks like Ka with an acute accent (').
Non-Slavic languages
These alphabets are generally modelled after Russian, but often bear striking differences, particularly when adapted for Caucasian languages. In Central Asia, the use of Cyrillic to represent local languages has often been a politically controversial issue after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as it evokes the era of Soviet rule. An number of languages have switched from Cyrillic to other orthographies—either Latin-based or returning to its former script.
Unlike the Latin alphabet, which is usually adapted to different languages using additions to existing letters such as accents, umlauts, tildes, and cedillas, the Cyrillic alphabet is usually adapted by the creation of entirely new letter shapes.
| Cyrillics | Qaydar latin transliteration
|
| Аa | Aa
|
| Әә | Ää
|
| Бб | Bb
|
| Вв | Vv
|
| Гг | Gg
|
| Ғғ | Ğğ
|
| Дд | Dd
|
| Ее | Ee
|
| Ёё | Yo yo
|
| Жж | Jj
|
| Зз | Zz
|
| Ии | Iy iy
|
| Йй | Yy
|
| Кк | Kk
|
| Ққ | Qq
|
| Лл | Ll
|
| Мм | Mm
|
| Нн | Nn
|
| Ңң | Ññ
|
| Оо | Oo
|
| Өө | Öö
|
| Пп | Pp
|
| Рр | Rr
|
| Сс | Ss
|
| Тт | Tt
|
| Уу | Ww
|
| Ұұ | Uu
|
| Үү | Üü
|
| Фф | Ff
|
| Хх | Xx
|
| Һһ | Hh
|
| Цц | Cc
|
| Чч | Çç
|
| Шш | Şş
|
| Щщ | ??
|
| Ъъ | ??
|
| Ыы | Iı
|
| İi | İi
|
| Ьь | ??
|
| Ээ | Ee
|
| Юю | Yu yu
|
| Яя | Ya ya
|
Cyrillic in Unicode
In Unicode, the Cyrillic block extends from U+0400 to U+052F. The characters in the range U+0400–U+045F are basically the characters from ISO 8859-5 moved upward by 864 positions. The characters in the range U+0460–U+0489 are historic letters, not used now. The characters in the range U+048A–U+052F are additional letters for various languages that are written with Cyrillic script.
Unicode does not include accented Cyrillic letters, but they can be composed by adding U+0301 ("combining acute accent") after the accented vowel (e.g. ы́ э́ ю́ я́). Some languages (e.g. modern Church Slavonic) still are not fully supported.
| | | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F
|
400 | | Ѐ | Ё | Ђ | Ѓ | Є | Ѕ | І | Ї | Ј | Љ | Њ | Ћ | Ќ | Ѝ | Ў | Џ
|
410 | | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П
|
420 | | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я
|
430 | | а | б | в | г | д | е | ж | з | и | й | к | л | м | н | о | п
|
440 | | р | с | т | у | ф | х | ц | ч | ш | щ | ъ | ы | ь | э | ю | я
|
450 | | ѐ | ё | ђ | ѓ | є | ѕ | і | ї | ј | љ | њ | ћ | ќ | ѝ | ў | џ
|
460 | | Ѡ | ѡ | Ѣ | ѣ | Ѥ | ѥ | Ѧ | ѧ | Ѩ | ѩ | Ѫ | ѫ | Ѭ | ѭ | Ѯ | ѯ
|
470 | | Ѱ | ѱ | Ѳ | ѳ | Ѵ | ѵ | Ѷ | ѷ | Ѹ | ѹ | Ѻ | ѻ | Ѽ | ѽ | Ѿ | ѿ
|
480 | | Ҁ | ҁ | ҂ | ҃ | ҄ | ҅ | ҆ | ҇ | ҈ | ҉ | Ҋ | ҋ | Ҍ | ҍ | Ҏ | ҏ
|
490 | | Ґ | ґ | Ғ | ғ | Ҕ | ҕ | Җ | җ | Ҙ | ҙ | Қ | қ | Ҝ | ҝ | Ҟ | ҟ
|
4A0 | | Ҡ | ҡ | Ң | ң | Ҥ | ҥ | Ҧ | ҧ | Ҩ | ҩ | Ҫ | ҫ | Ҭ | ҭ | Ү | ү
|
4B0 | | Ұ | ұ | Ҳ | ҳ | Ҵ | ҵ | Ҷ | ҷ | Ҹ | ҹ | Һ | һ | Ҽ | ҽ | Ҿ | ҿ
|
4C0 | | Ӏ | Ӂ | ӂ | Ӄ | ӄ | Ӆ | ӆ | Ӈ | ӈ | Ӊ | ӊ | Ӌ | ӌ | Ӎ | ӎ | ӏ
|
4D0 | | Ӑ | ӑ | Ӓ | ӓ | Ӕ | ӕ | Ӗ | ӗ | Ә | ә | Ӛ | ӛ | Ӝ | ӝ | Ӟ | ӟ
|
4E0 | | Ӡ | ӡ | Ӣ | ӣ | Ӥ | ӥ | Ӧ | ӧ | Ө | ө | Ӫ | ӫ | Ӭ | ӭ | Ӯ | ӯ
|
4F0 | | Ӱ | ӱ | Ӳ | ӳ | Ӵ | ӵ | Ӷ | ӷ | Ӹ | ӹ | Ӻ | ӻ | Ӽ | ӽ | Ӿ | ӿ
|
500 | | Ԁ | ԁ | Ԃ | ԃ | Ԅ | ԅ | Ԇ | ԇ | Ԉ | ԉ | Ԋ | ԋ | Ԍ | ԍ | Ԏ | ԏ
|
510 | | Ԑ | ԑ | Ԓ | ԓ | Ԕ | ԕ | Ԗ | ԗ | Ԙ | ԙ | Ԛ | ԛ | Ԝ | ԝ | Ԟ | ԟ
|
520 | | Ԡ | ԡ | Ԣ | ԣ | Ԥ | ԥ | Ԧ | ԧ | Ԩ | ԩ | Ԫ | ԫ | Ԭ | ԭ | Ԯ | ԯ
|
Related articles
External links
bg:Кирилица
ca:Alfabet ciríl·lic
cs:Cyrilice
da:Kyrilliske alfabet
de:Kyrillisches Alphabet
et:Kirillitsa
es:Alfabeto cirílico
eo:Cirila alfabeto
fr:Alphabet cyrillique
is:Kýrillískt letur
nl:Cyrillisch alfabet
ja:キリル文字
pl:Cyrylica
ru:Кириллица
sl:Cirilica
sr:Ћирилица
fi:Kyrilliset aakkoset
sv:Kyrilliska alfabetet
uk:Кирилиця
zh-cn:斯拉夫字母表
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