Numerous Cyrillic alphabets are based on the Cyrillic script. The early Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 9th century AD (in all probability in Ravna Monastery) at the Preslav Literary School by Saint Clement of Ohrid and Saint Naum and replaced the earlier Glagolitic script developed by the Byzantine theologians Cyril and Methodius (in all probability in Polychron). It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, in parts of Southeastern Europe and Northern Eurasia, especially those of Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian. As of 2011, around 252 million people in Eurasia use it as the official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia. Cyrillic is one of the most-used writing systems in the world.
Some of these are illustrated below; for others, and for more detail, see the links. Sounds are transcribed in the IPA. While these languages by and large have phonemic orthographies, there are occasional exceptions—for example, Russian ⟨г⟩ is pronounced /v/ in a number of words, an orthographic relic from when they were pronounced /ɡ/ (e.g. его yego 'him/his', is pronounced [jɪˈvo] rather than [jɪˈɡo]).
Spellings of names transliterated into the Roman alphabet may vary, especially й (y/j/i), but also г (gh/g/h) and ж (zh/j).
Non-Slavic alphabets are generally modelled after Russian, but often bear striking differences, particularly when adapted for Caucasian languages. The first few of these alphabets were developed by Orthodox missionaries for the Finnic and Turkic peoples of Idel-Ural (Mari, Udmurt, Mordva, Chuvash, and Kerashen Tatars) in the 1870s. Later, such alphabets were created for some of the Siberian and Caucasus peoples who had recently converted to Christianity. In the 1930s, some of those languages were switched to the Uniform Turkic Alphabet. All of the peoples of the former Soviet Union who had been using an Arabic or other Asian script (Mongolian script etc.) also adopted Cyrillic alphabets, and during the Great Purge in the late 1930s, all of the Latin alphabets of the peoples of the Soviet Union were switched to Cyrillic as well (the Baltic Republics were annexed later, and were not affected by this change). The Abkhazian and Ossetian languages were switched to Georgian script, but after the death of Joseph Stalin, both also adopted Cyrillic. The last language to adopt Cyrillic was the Gagauz language, which had used Greek script before.
In Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, the use of Cyrillic to write local languages has often been a politically controversial issue since the collapse of the Soviet Union, as it evokes the era of Soviet rule and Russification. Some of Russia's peoples such as the Tatars have also tried to drop Cyrillic, but the move was halted under Russian law. A number of languages have switched from Cyrillic to other orthographies—either Roman‐based or returning to a former script.
Unlike the Latin script, which is usually adapted to different languages by adding diacritical marks/supplementary glyphs (such as accents, umlauts, fadas, tildes and cedillas) to standard Roman letters, by assigning new phonetic values to existing letters (e.g. <c>, whose original value in Latin was /k/, represents /ts/ in West Slavic languages, /ʕ/ in Somali, /t͡ʃ/ in many African languages and /d͡ʒ/ in Turkish), or by the use of digraphs (such as <sh>, <ch>, <ng> and <ny>), the Cyrillic script is usually adapted by the creation of entirely new letter shapes. However, in some alphabets invented in the 19th century, such as Mari, Udmurt and Chuvash, umlauts and breves also were used.
Bulgarian and Bosnian Sephardim without Hebrew typefaces occasionally printed Judeo-Spanish in Cyrillic. [1]
The following table lists the Cyrillic letters which are used in the alphabets of most of the national languages which use a Cyrillic alphabet. Exceptions and additions for particular languages are noted below.
Upright | Italic/Cursive | Name | Sound (in IPA) |
---|---|---|---|
А а | А а | A | /a/ |
Б б | Б б | Be | /b/ |
В в | В в | Ve | /v/ |
Г г | Г г | Ge | /ɡ/ |
Д д | Д д | De | /d/ |
Е е | Е е | E | /je/, /ʲe/ |
Ж ж | Ж ж | Zhe | /ʒ/ |
З з | З з | Ze | /z/ |
И и | И и | I | /i/, /ʲi/ |
Й й | Й й | Short I [lower-alpha 1] | /j/ |
К к | К к | Ka | /k/ |
Л л | Л л | El | /l/ |
М м | М м | Em | /m/ |
Н н | Н н | En/Ne | /n/ |
О о | О о | O | /o/ |
П п | П п | Pe | /p/ |
Р р | Р р | Er/Re | /r/ |
С с | С с | Es | /s/ |
Т т | Т т | Te | /t/ |
У у | У у | U | /u/ |
Ф ф | Ф ф | Ef/Fe | /f/ |
Х х | Х х | Kha | /x/ |
Ц ц | Ц ц | Tse | /ts/ (t͡s) |
Ч ч | Ч ч | Che | /tʃ/ (t͡ʃ) |
Ш ш | Ш ш | Sha | /ʃ/ |
Щ щ | Щ щ | Shcha, Shta | /ʃtʃ/, /ɕː/, /ʃt/ [lower-alpha 2] |
Ь ь | Ь ь | Soft sign [lower-alpha 3] or Small yer [lower-alpha 4] | /ʲ/ [lower-alpha 5] |
Ю ю | Ю ю | Yu | /ju/, /ʲu/ |
Я я | Я я | Ya | /ja/, /ʲa/ |
Cyrillic alphabets used by Slavic languages can be divided into two categories:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й |
К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф |
Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Notes:
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); these were eliminated by reforms of Russian orthography.
The Belarusian alphabet
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | І і | Й й |
К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ў ў |
Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я | ’ |
The Belarusian alphabet displays the following features:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Ґ ґ | Д д | Е е | Є є | Ж ж | З з | И и |
І і | Ї ї | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с |
Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ь ь | Ю ю | Я я |
The Ukrainian alphabet displays the following features:
The Rusyn language is spoken by the Lemko Rusyns in Carpathian Ruthenia, Slovakia, and Poland, and the Pannonian Rusyns in Croatia and Serbia.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Ґ ґ | Д д | Е е | Є є | Ё ё* | Ж ж | З з |
И и | І і* | Ы ы* | Ї ї | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п |
Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ѣ ѣ* |
Ю ю | Я я | Ь ь | Ъ ъ* |
*Letters absent from Pannonian Rusyn alphabet.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й |
К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у |
Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ь ь | Ю ю | Я я |
The Bulgarian alphabet features:
The Cyrillic alphabet was originally developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 9th – 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School. [2] [3]
It has been used in Bulgaria (with modifications and exclusion of certain archaic letters via spelling reforms) continuously since then, superseding the previously used Glagolitic alphabet, which was also invented and used there before the Cyrillic script overtook its use as a written script for the Bulgarian language. The Cyrillic alphabet was used in the then much bigger territory of Bulgaria (including most of today’s Serbia), North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Northern Greece (Macedonia region), Romania and Moldova, officially from 893. It was also transferred from Bulgaria and adopted by the East Slavic languages in Kievan Rus' and evolved into the Russian alphabet and the alphabets of many other Slavic (and later non-Slavic) languages. Later, some Slavs modified it and added/excluded letters from it to better suit the needs of their own language varieties.
South Slavic Cyrillic alphabets (with the exception of Bulgarian) are generally derived from Serbian Cyrillic. It, and by extension its descendants, differs from the East Slavic ones in that the alphabet has generally been simplified: Letters such as Я, Ю, and Ё, representing /ja/, /ju/, and /jo/ in Russian, respectively, have been removed. Instead, these are represented by the digraphs ⟨ја⟩, ⟨јu⟩, and ⟨јо⟩, respectively. Additionally, the letter Е, representing /je/ in Russian, is instead pronounced /e/ or /ɛ/, with /je/ being represented by ⟨јe⟩. Alphabets based on the Serbian that add new letters often do so by adding an acute accent ⟨´⟩ over an existing letter.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Ђ ђ | Е е | Ж ж | З з | И и |
Ј ј | К к | Л л | Љ љ | М м | Н н | Њ њ | О о | П п | Р р |
С с | Т т | Ћ ћ | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Џ џ | Ш ш |
The Serbian alphabet shows the following features:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Ѓ ѓ | Е е | Ж ж | З з | Ѕ ѕ | И и |
Ј ј | К к | Л л | Љ љ | М м | Н н | Њ њ | О о | П п | Р р | С с |
Т т | Ќ ќ | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Џ џ | Ш ш |
The Macedonian alphabet differs from Serbian in the following ways:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Ђ ђ | Е е | Ж ж | З з | З́ з́ | И и |
Ј ј | К к | Л л | Љ љ | М м | Н н | Њ њ | О о | П п | Р р | С с |
С́ с́ | Т т | Ћ ћ | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Џ џ | Ш ш |
The Montenegrin alphabet differs from Serbian in the following ways:
The Bosnian language uses Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. Latin is slightly more common. [6] A Bosnian Cyrillic script ( Bosančica ) was used in the Middle Ages, along with other scripts Bosnian language.
Uralic languages using the Cyrillic script (currently or in the past) include:
The Karelian language was written in the Cyrillic script in various forms until 1940 when publication in Karelian ceased in favor of Finnish, except for Tver Karelian, written in a Latin alphabet. In 1989 publication began again in the other Karelian dialects and Latin alphabets were used, in some cases with the addition of Cyrillic letters such as ь.
Over the last century, the alphabet used to write Kildin Sami has changed three times: from Cyrillic to Latin and back again to Cyrillic. Work on the latest version of the official orthography commenced in 1979. It was officially approved in 1982 and started to be widely used by 1987. [7]
The Komi-Permyak alphabet:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё |
Ж ж | З з | И и | I i | Й й | К к | Л л |
М м | Н н | О о | Ӧ ӧ | П п | Р р | С с |
Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш |
Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Meadow Mari alphabet:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и |
Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | Ҥ ҥ | О о | Ö ö | П п | Р р |
С с | Т т | У у | Ӱ ӱ | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ |
Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Hill Mari alphabet
А а | Ä ä | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з |
И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | Ö ö | П п | Р р |
С с | Т т | У у | Ӱ ӱ | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ |
Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ӹ ӹ | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Kurds in the former Soviet Union use a Cyrillic alphabet:
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Г' г' | Д д | Е е | Ә ә |
Ә' ә' | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | К' к' | Л л |
М м | Н н | О о | Ö ö | П п | П' п' | Р р | Р' р' |
С с | Т т | Т' т' | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Һ һ | Һ' һ' |
Ч ч | Ч' ч' | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ь ь | Э э | Ԛ ԛ | Ԝ ԝ |
The Ossetic language has officially used the Cyrillic script since 1937.
А а | Ӕ ӕ | Б б | В в | Г г | Гъ гъ | Д д | Дж дж |
Дз дз | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к |
Къ къ | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Пъ пъ | Р р |
С с | Т т | Тъ тъ | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Хъ хъ | Ц ц |
Цъ цъ | Ч ч | Чъ чъ | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь |
Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
The Tajik language is written using a Cyrillic-based alphabet.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Ғ ғ | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | |
Ӣ ӣ | Й й | К к | Қ қ | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | |
Т т | У у | Ӯ ӯ | Ф ф | Х х | Ҳ ҳ | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ҷ ҷ | Ш ш | Ъ ъ | |
Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Romani is written in Cyrillic in Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and the former USSR.
The Mongolic languages include Khalkha (in Mongolia), Buryat (around Lake Baikal) and Kalmyk (northwest of the Caspian Sea). Khalkha Mongolian is also written with the Mongol vertical alphabet.
This table contains all the characters used.
Һһ is shown twice as it appears at two different locations in Buryat and Kalmyk
Khalkha | Аа | Бб | Вв | Гг | Дд | Ее | Ёё | Жж | Зз | Ии | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм | Нн | Оо | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Buryat | Аа | Бб | Вв | Гг | Дд | Ее | Ёё | Жж | Зз | Ии | Йй | Лл | Мм | Нн | Оо | |||||
Kalmyk | Аа | Әә | Бб | Вв | Гг | Һһ | Дд | Ее | Жж | Җҗ | Зз | Ии | Йй | Кк | Лл | Мм | Нн | Ңң | Оо | |
Khalkha | Өө | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу | Үү | Фф | Хх | Цц | Чч | Шш | Щщ | Ъъ | Ыы | Ьь | Ээ | Юю | Яя | |
Buryat | Өө | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу | Үү | Хх | Һһ | Цц | Чч | Шш | Ыы | Ьь | Ээ | Юю | Яя | |||
Kalmyk | Өө | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу | Үү | Хх | Цц | Чч | Шш | Ьь | Ээ | Юю | Яя |
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й |
К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | Ө ө | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у |
Ү ү | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э |
Ю ю | Я я |
The Cyrillic letters Кк, Пп, Фф and Щщ are not used in native Mongolian words, but only for Russian loans.
The Buryat (буряад) Cyrillic script is similar to the Khalkha above, but Ьь indicates palatalization as in Russian. Buryat does not use Вв, Кк, Фф, Цц, Чч, Щщ or Ъъ in its native words.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й |
Л л | М м | Н н | О о | Ө ө | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ү ү |
Х х | Һ һ | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
The Kalmyk (хальмг) Cyrillic script is similar to the Khalkha, but the letters Ээ, Юю and Яя appear only word-initially. In Kalmyk, long vowels are written double in the first syllable (нөөрин), but single in syllables after the first. Short vowels are omitted altogether in syllables after the first syllable (хальмг = /xaʎmaɡ/).
А а | Ә ә | Б б | В в | Г г | Һ һ | Д д | Е е | Ж ж | Җ җ | З з |
И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | Ң ң | О о | Ө ө | П п | Р р |
С с | Т т | У у | Ү ү | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю |
Я я |
Living Northwest Caucasian languages are generally written using Cyrillic alphabets.
Abkhaz is a Caucasian language, spoken in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Гь гь | Ӷ ӷ | Ӷь Ӷь | Д д | Дә дә | Е е |
Ж ж | Жь жь | Жә жә | З з | Ӡ ӡ | Ӡә ӡә | И и | Й й | К к | Кь кь |
Қ қ | Қь қь | Ҟ ҟ | Ҟь ҟь | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Ҧ ҧ |
Р р | С с | Т т | Тә тә | Ҭ ҭ | Ҭә ҭә | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Хь хь |
Ҳ ҳ | Ҳә ҳә | Ц ц | Цә цә | Ҵ ҵ | Ҵә ҵә | Ч ч | Ҷ ҷ | Ҽ ҽ | Ҿ ҿ |
Ш ш | Шь шь | Шә шә | Щ щ | Ы ы | Ҩ ҩ | Џ џ | Џь џь | Ь ь | Ә ә |
Northeast Caucasian languages are generally written using Cyrillic alphabets.
Avar is a Caucasian language, spoken in the Republic of Dagestan, of the Russian Federation, where it is co-official together with other Caucasian languages like Dargwa, Lak, Lezgian and Tabassaran. All these alphabets, and other ones (Abaza, Adyghe, Chechen, Ingush, Kabardian) have an extra sign: palochka (Ӏ), which gives voiceless occlusive consonants its particular ejective sound.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Гъ гъ | Гь гь | ГӀ гӀ | Д д |
Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к | Къ къ |
Кь кь | КӀ кӀ | КӀкӀ кӀкӀ | Кк кк | Л л | М м | Н н | О о |
П п | Р р | С с | Т т | ТӀ тӀ | У у | Ф ф | Х х |
Хх хх | Хъ хъ | Хь хь | ХӀ хӀ | Ц ц | Цц цц | ЦӀ цӀ | ЦӀцӀ цӀцӀ |
Ч ч | ЧӀ чӀ | ЧӀчӀ чӀчӀ | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь |
Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Lezgian is spoken by the Lezgins, who live in southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan. Lezgian is a literary language and an official language of Dagestan.
The Cyrillic script was used for the Bashkir language after the winter of 1938.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Ғ ғ | Д д | Ҙ ҙ | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | |
И и | Й й | К к | Ҡ ҡ | Л л | М м | Н н | Ң ң | О о | Ө ө | П п | |
Р р | С с | Ҫ ҫ | Т т | У у | Ү ү | Ф ф | Х х | Һ һ | Ц ц | Ч ч | |
Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ә ә | Ю ю | Я я |
The Cyrillic alphabet is used for the Chuvash language since the late 19th century, with some changes in 1938.
А а | Ӑ ӑ | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ӗ ӗ | Ж ж | З з |
И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Ҫ ҫ |
Т т | У у | Ӳ ӳ | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы |
Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Kazakh can be alternatively written in the Latin alphabet. Latin is going to be the only used alphabet in 2022, alongside the modified Arabic alphabet (in the People's Republic of China, Iran and Afghanistan).
А а | Ә ә | Б б | В в | Г г | Ғ ғ | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з |
И и | Й й | К к | Қ қ | Л л | М м | Н н | Ң ң | О о | Ө ө | П п |
Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ұ ұ | Ү ү | Ф ф | Х х | Һ һ | Ц ц | Ч ч |
Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | І і | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
The Cyrillic letters Вв, Ёё, Цц, Чч, Щщ, Ъъ, Ьь and Ээ are not used in native Kazakh words, but only for Russian loans.
Kyrgyz has also been written in Latin and in Arabic.
А а | Б б | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к |
Л л | М м | Н н | Ң ң | О о | Ө ө | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у |
Ү ү | Х х | Ч ч | Ш ш | Ы ы | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
Tatar has used Cyrillic since 1939, but the Russian Orthodox Tatar community has used Cyrillic since the 19th century. In 2000 a new Latin alphabet was adopted for Tatar, but it is used generally on the Internet.
А а | Ә ә | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | Җ җ |
З з | И и | Й й | К к | Л л | М м | Н н | Ң ң | О о | Ө ө |
П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ү ү | Ф ф | Х х | Һ һ | Ц ц |
Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э | Ю ю | Я я |
The Cyrillic letters Ёё, Цц, Щщ are not used in native Tatar words, but only for Russian loans.
Turkmen, written 1940–1994 exclusively in Cyrillic, since 1994 officially in Roman, but in everyday communication Cyrillic is still used along with Roman script.
From 1941 the Cyrillic script was used exclusively. In 1998 the government has adopted a Latin alphabet to replace it. The deadline for making this transition has however been repeatedly changed, and Cyrillic is still more common. It is not clear that the transition will be made at all.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Й й | К к |
Л л | М м | Н н | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у | Ф ф | Х х | Ч ч |
Ш ш | Ъ ъ | Э э | Ю ю | Я я | Ў ў | Қ қ | Ғ ғ | Ҳ ҳ |
Since 1953.
А а | Б б | В в | Г г | Д д | Е е | Ё ё | Ж ж | Җ җ | З з | И и | Й й |
К к | Л л | М м | Н н | Ң ң | Ә ә | О о | П п | Р р | С с | Т т | У у |
Ў ў | Ү ү | Ф ф | Х х | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ь ь | Э э |
Ю ю | Я я |
А а | А̄ а̄ | Б б | В в | Г г | Ӷ ӷ | Гў гў | Д д | Д̆ д̆ | Е е | Е̄ е̄ | Ё ё | Ж ж | З з | И и | Ӣ ӣ |
Й й | ʼЙ ʼй | К к | Ӄ ӄ | Л л | ʼЛ ʼл | М м | ʼМ ʼм | Н н | ʼН ʼн | Ӈ ӈ | ʼӇ ʼӈ | О о | О̄ о̄ | П п | Р р |
С с | Т т | У у | Ӯ ӯ | Ф ф | Х х | Ӽ ӽ | Ц ц | Ч ч | Ш ш | Щ щ | Ъ ъ | Ы ы | Ы̄ ы̄ | Ь ь | Э э |
Э̄ э̄ | Ю ю | Ю̄ ю̄ | Я я | Я̄ я̄ | ʼ | ʼЎ ʼў |
Early scripts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Church Slavonic | А | Б | В | Г | Д | (Ѕ) | Е | Ж | Ѕ/З | И | І | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | Оу | (Ѡ) | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ѣ | Ь | Ю | Ꙗ | Ѥ | Ѧ | Ѩ | Ѫ | Ѭ | Ѯ | Ѱ | Ѳ | Ѵ | Ҁ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Most common shared letters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ь | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
South Slavic languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Дж | Дз | Е | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ь | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Macedonian | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Ѓ | Е | Ѕ | Ж | З | И | Ј | К | Л | Љ | М | Н | Њ | О | П | Р | С | Т | Ќ | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Џ | Ш | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Serbian | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Ђ | Е | Ж | З | И | Ј | К | Л | Љ | М | Н | Њ | О | П | Р | С | Т | Ћ | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Џ | Ш | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Montenegrin | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Ђ | Е | Ж | З | З́ | И | Ј | К | Л | Љ | М | Н | Њ | О | П | Р | С | С́ | Т | Ћ | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Џ | Ш | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
East Slavic languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Russian | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Belarusian | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | І | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ў | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | ’ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ukrainian | А | Б | В | Г | Ґ | Д | Е | Є | Ж | З | И | І | Ї | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | ’ | Ь | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rusyn | А | Б | В | Г | Ґ | Д | Е | Є | Ё | Ж | З | И | І | Ы | Ї | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ѣ | Ь | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Iranian languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kurdish | А | Б | В | Г | Г' | Д | Е | Ә | Ә' | Ж | З | И | Й | К | К' | Л | М | Н | О | Ö | П | П' | Р | Р' | С | Т | Т' | У | Ф | Х | Һ | Һ' | Ч | Ч' | Ш | Щ | Ь | Э | Ԛ | Ԝ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ossetian | А | Ӕ | Б | В | Г | Гъ | Д | Дж | Дз | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Къ | Л | М | Н | О | П | Пъ | Р | С | Т | Тъ | У | Ф | Х | Хъ | Ц | Цъ | Ч | Чъ | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tajik | А | Б | В | Г | Ғ | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Ӣ | Й | К | Қ | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ӯ | Ф | Х | Ҳ | Ч | Ҷ | Ш | Ъ | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Romance languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Moldovan | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ж | Ӂ | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Uralic languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Komi-Permyak | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | І | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | Ӧ | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Meadow Mari | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | Ҥ | О | Ӧ | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ӱ | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hill Mari | А | Ӓ | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | Ӧ | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ӱ | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ӹ | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kildin Sami | А | Ӓ | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | Ҋ | Ј | К | Л | Ӆ | М | Ӎ | Н | Ӊ | Ӈ | О | П | Р | Ҏ | С | Т | У | Ф | Х | Һ | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Ҍ | Э | Ӭ | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turkic languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bashkir | А | Ә | Б | В | Г | Ғ | Д | Ҙ | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Ҡ | Л | М | Н | Ң | О | Ө | П | Р | С | Ҫ | Т | У | Ү | Ф | Х | Һ | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ә | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chuvash | А | Ӑ | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ӗ | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Ҫ | Т | У | Ӳ | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kazakh | А | Ә | Б | В | Г | Ғ | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | І | Й | К | Қ | Л | М | Н | Ң | О | Ө | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ұ | Ү | Ф | Х | Һ | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kyrgyz | А | Б | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | Ң | О | Ө | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ү | Х | Ч | Ш | Ы | Э | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tatar | А | Ә | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | Җ | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | Ң | О | Ө | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ү | Ф | Х | Һ | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Uzbek | А | Б | В | Г | Ғ | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Қ | Л | М | Н | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ў | Ф | Х | Ҳ | Ч | Ш | Ъ | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mongolian languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Buryat | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | Л | М | Н | О | Ө | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ү | Х | Һ | Ц | Ч | Ш | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Khalkha | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | О | Ө | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ү | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kalmyk | А | Ә | Б | В | Г | Һ | Д | Е | Ж | Җ | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | Ң | О | Ө | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ү | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Ь | Э | Ю | Я | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Caucasian lannguages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abkhaz | А | Б | В | Г | Ҕ | Д | Дә | Џ | Е | Ҽ | Ҿ | Ж | Жә | З | Ӡ Ӡә | И | Й | К | Қ | Ҟ | Л | М | Н | О | Ҩ | П | Ҧ | Р | С | Т Тә | Ҭ Ҭә | У | Ф | Х | Ҳ Ҳә | Ц Цә | Ҵ Ҵә | Ч | Ҷ | Ш Шә | Щ | Ы | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sino-Tibetan languages | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dungan | А | Б | В | Г | Д | Е | Ё | Ж | Җ | З | И | Й | К | Л | М | Н | Ң | Ә | О | П | Р | С | Т | У | Ў | Ү | Ф | Х | Ц | Ч | Ш | Щ | Ъ | Ы | Ь | Э | Ю | Я |
The Russian alphabet was derived from Cyrillic script for Old Church Slavonic language. Initially an old variant of the Bulgarian alphabet, it became used in the Kievan Rus' since 10th century to write what would become the Russian language. The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters. It has twenty consonants, ten vowels, a semivowel (⟨й⟩), and two modifier letters that alter a preceding consonant.
Bashkir is a Turkic language belonging to the Kipchak branch. It is co-official with Russian in Bashkortostan. It is spoken by approximately 1.4 million native speakers in Russia. It has three dialect groups: Southern, Eastern and Northwestern.
Kalmyk Oirat, commonly known as the Kalmyk language, is a register of the Oirat language, natively spoken by the Kalmyk people of Kalmykia, a federal subject of Russia. In Russia, it is the standard form of the Oirat language, which belongs to the Mongolic language family. The Kalmyk people of the Northwest Caspian Sea of Russia claim descent from the Oirats from Eurasia, who have also historically settled in Mongolia and Northwest China. According to UNESCO, the language is "Definitely endangered". According to the Russian census of 2010, there are 80,500 speakers of an ethnic population consisting of 183,000 people.
I is a letter used in almost all Cyrillic alphabets.
The European ordering rules, define an ordering for strings written in languages that are written with the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic alphabets. The standard covers languages used by the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and parts of the former Soviet Union. It is a tailoring of the Common Tailorable Template of ISO/IEC 14651. EOR can in turn be tailored for different (European) languages. But in inter-European contexts, EOR can be used without further tailoring.
Romanization of Russian is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic script into the Latin script.
Two scripts are currently used for the Tatar language: Arabic, Cyrillic.
The soft sign also known as the front yer or front jer, is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Old Church Slavonic, it represented a short front vowel. As with its companion, the back yer ⟨ъ⟩, the vowel phoneme that it designated was later partly dropped and partly merged with other vowels.
Yery, Yeru, Ery or Eru, usually called Ы [ɨ] in modern Russian or еры yerý historically and in modern Church Slavonic, is a letter in the Cyrillic script. It represents the close central unrounded vowel after non-palatalised (hard) consonants in the Belarusian and Russian alphabets.
The Ukrainian alphabet is the set of letters used to write Ukrainian, the official language of Ukraine. It is one of the national variations of the Cyrillic script. The modern Ukrainian alphabet consists of 33 letters.
The Shor language is a Turkic language spoken by about 2,800 people in a region called Mountain Shoriya, in the Kemerovo Province in Southwest Siberia, although the entire Shor population in this area is over 12000 people. Presently, not all ethnic Shors speak Shor and the language suffered a decline from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. During this period the Shor language was neither written nor taught in schools. However, since the 1980s and 1990s there has been a Shor language revival. The language is now taught at the Novokuznetsk branch of the Kemerovo State University.
The Belarusian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic script and is derived from the alphabet of Old Church Slavonic. It has existed in its modern form since 1918 and has 32 letters. See also Belarusian Latin alphabet and Belarusian Arabic alphabet.
The Even language, also known as Lamut, Ewen, Eben, Orich, Ilqan, is a Tungusic language spoken by the Evens in Siberia. It is spoken by widely scattered communities of reindeer herders from Kamchatka and the Sea of Okhotsk in the east to the Lena river in the west, and from the Arctic coast in the north to the Aldan river in the south. Even is an endangered language, with only some 5,700 speakers. These speakers are specifically from the Magadan region, the Chukot region and the Koryak region. The dialects are Arman, Indigirka, Kamchatka, Kolyma-Omolon, Okhotsk, Ola, Tompon, Upper Kolyma, Sakkyryr and Lamunkhin.
Three alphabets are used to write the Kazakh language: in the Cyrillic, Latin and Arabic scripts. The Cyrillic script is used in Kazakhstan and Mongolia. An October 2017 Presidential Decree in Kazakhstan ordered that the transition from Cyrillic to a Latin script be completed by 2025. The Arabic script is used in parts of China, Iran and Afghanistan.
The Cyrillic script family contains many specially treated two-letter combinations, or digraphs, but few of these are used in Slavic languages. In a few alphabets, trigraphs and even the occasional tetragraph are used.
JCUKEN is the main Cyrillic keyboard layout for the Russian language in computers and typewriters. Earlier in Russia JIUKEN (ЙІУКЕН) layout was the main layout, but it was replaced by JCUKEN when the Russian alphabet reform of 1917 removed the letters Ѣ, І, Ѵ, and Ѳ. The letter Ъ had decreased in usage significantly after the reform.
Russian Braille is the braille alphabet of the Russian language. With suitable extensions, it is used for languages of neighboring countries that are written in Cyrillic in print, such as Ukrainian and Mongolian. It is based on the Latin transliteration of Cyrillic, with additional letters assigned idiosyncratically. In Russian, it is known as Шрифт Брайля.
The Dolgan language is a Turkic language with around 1,000 speakers, spoken in the Taymyr Peninsula in Russia. The speakers are known as the Dolgans. The word "Dolgan" means 'tribe living on the middle reaches of the river'. This is most likely signifying the geographical location of the Dolgan tribe.
The Komi language, a Uralic language spoken in the north-eastern part of European Russia, has been written in several different alphabets. Currently, Komi writing uses letters from the Cyrillic script. There have been five distinct stages in the history of Komi writing:
Since its inception in the 18th century and up to the present, it is based on the Cyrillic alphabet to write the Udmurt language. Attempts were also made to use the Latin alphabet to write the Udmurt language. In its modern form, the Udmurt alphabet was approved in 1937.
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