| Russian Cyrillic alphabet | |
| Type: | Alphabet |
| Languages: | Russian |
| Time: | 10th century (Old East Slavic) to present;modern orthography: 1918 |
| Fam1: | Egyptian hieroglyphs[1] |
| Fam2: | Phoenician alphabet |
| Fam3: | Greek alphabet (partly Glagolitic alphabet) |
| Fam4: | Early Cyrillic alphabet |
| Children: | Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet |
| Unicode: | subset of Cyrillic (U+0400...U+04FF) |
| Iso15924: | Cyrl |
| Native Name: | Русская кириллическая азбука |
| Sample: | Russian Cyrillic alphabet.svg |
The Russian alphabet (Russian: ру́сский алфави́т|russkiy alfavit||label=none, or Russian: ру́сская а́збука|russkaya azbuka|label=none, more traditionally) is the script used to write the Russian language. It comes from the Cyrillic script, which was devised in the 9th century for the first Slavic literary language, Old Slavonic. Initially an old variant of the Bulgarian alphabet,[2] it became used in the Kievan Rusʹ since the 10th century to write what would become the modern Russian language.
The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters: twenty consonants ((б), (в), (г), (д), (ж), (з), (к), (л), (м), (н), (п), (р), (с), (т), (ф), (х), (ц), (ч), (ш), (щ)), ten vowels ((а), (е), (ё), (и), (о), (у), (ы), (э), (ю), (я)), a semivowel / consonant, and two modifier letters or "signs" ((ъ), (ь)) that alter pronunciation of a preceding consonant or a following vowel.
| Letter | Cursive | Italics | Name | Old name | IPA | Common transliteration | Approximate English equivalent | Examples | No. | Unicode (Hex) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian: [[А]]а | А а | Russian: а pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: азъ pronounced as /[ɑs]/ | pronounced as /link/ | a | father | Russian: дв'''а''' dva "two" | 1 | U+0410 / U+0430 | |
| Russian: [[Б]]б | Б б | Russian: бэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: буки pronounced as /[ˈbukʲɪ]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[bʲ]/ | b | bad | Russian: о'''б'''а óba "both" | – | U+0411 / U+0431 | |
| Russian: [[В]]в | В в | Russian: вэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: вѣди pronounced as /[ˈvʲedʲɪ]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[vʲ]/ | v | vine | Russian: '''в'''ода vodá "water" | 2 | U+0412 / U+0432 | |
| Russian: [[Г]]г | Г г | Russian: гэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: глаголь pronounced as /[ɡɫɐˈɡolʲ]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[gʲ]/ | g | go | Russian: '''г'''од god "year" | 3 | U+0413 / U+0433 | |
| Russian: [[Д]]д | Д д | Russian: дэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: добро pronounced as /[dɐˈbro]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[dʲ]/ | d | do | Russian: '''д'''а da "yes" | 4 | U+0414 / U+0434 | |
| Russian: [[Е]]е | Е е | Russian: е pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: есть pronounced as /[jesʲtʲ]/ | pronounced as /[je]/, pronounced as /[ ʲe]/ or pronounced as /link/ | ye, je, e | yes | Russian: н'''е''' ne "not" | 5 | U+0415 / U+0435 | |
| Russian: [[Ё]]ё | Ё ё | Russian: ё pronounced as /ru/ | – | pronounced as /[jo]/ or pronounced as /[ ʲɵ]/ | yo, jo, ë | your | Russian: '''ё'''ж yozh "hedgehog" | – | U+0401 / U+0451 | |
| Russian: [[Ж]]ж | Ж ж | Russian: жэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: живѣте pronounced as /[ʐɨˈvʲetʲɪ]/ | pronounced as /link/ | zh, ž | measure | Russian: '''ж'''ук zhuk "beetle" | – | U+0416 / U+0436 | |
| Russian: [[З]]з | З з | Russian: зэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: земля pronounced as /[zʲɪˈmlʲa]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[zʲ]/ | z | zoo | Russian: '''з'''ной znoy "heat" | 7 | U+0417 / U+0437 | |
| Russian: [[И]]и | И и | Russian: и pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: иже pronounced as /[ˈiʐɨ]/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /[ ʲi]/, or pronounced as /[ɨ]/ | i | police | Russian: '''и'''л'''и''' íli "or" | 8 | U+0418 / U+0438 | |
| Russian: [[Й]]й | Й й | Russian: и краткое'short i' pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: и съ краткой pronounced as /[ɪ s ˈkratkəj]/ | pronounced as /link/ | y, i, j | toy | Russian: мо'''й''' moy "my, mine" | – | U+0419 / U+0439 | |
| Russian: [[К]]к | К к | Russian: ка pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: како pronounced as /[ˈkakə]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[kʲ]/ | k | kept | Russian: '''к'''то kto "who" | 20 | U+041A / U+043A | |
| Russian: [[Л]]л | Л л | Russian: эл pronounced as /ru/ (pronounced as /ru/) | Russian: люди pronounced as /[ˈlʲʉdʲɪ]/ | pronounced as /[ɫ]/ or pronounced as /[lʲ]/ | l | feel or lamp | Russian: '''л'''уч luch "ray" | 30 | U+041B / U+043B | |
| Russian: [[М]]м | М м | Russian: эм pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: мыслѣте pronounced as /[mɨˈsʲlʲetʲɪ]/[3] | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[mʲ]/ | m | map | Russian: '''м'''еч mech "sword" | 40 | U+041C / U+043C | |
| Russian: [[Н]]н | Н н | Russian: эн pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: нашъ pronounced as /[naʂ]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[nʲ]/ | n | not | Russian: '''н'''о no "but" | 50 | U+041D / U+043D | |
| Russian: [[О]]о | О о | Russian: о pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: онъ pronounced as /[on]/ | pronounced as /link/ | o | more | Russian: '''о'''н on "he" | 70 | U+041E / U+043E | |
| Russian: [[П]]п | П п | Russian: пэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: покой pronounced as /[pɐˈkoj]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[pʲ]/ | p | pet | Russian: '''п'''од pod "under" | 80 | U+041F / U+043F | |
| Russian: [[Р]]р | Р р | Russian: эр pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: рцы pronounced as /[rtsɨ]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[rʲ]/ | r | Russian: '''р'''ека reká "river" | 100 | U+0420 / U+0440 | ||
| Russian: [[С]]с | С с | Russian: эс pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: слово pronounced as /[ˈsɫovə]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[sʲ]/ | s | set | Russian: е'''с'''ли yésli "if" | 200 | U+0421 / U+0441 | |
| Russian: [[Т]]т | Т т | Russian: тэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: твердо pronounced as /[ˈtvʲerdə]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[tʲ]/ | t | top | Russian: '''т'''о'''т''' tot "that" | 300 | U+0422 / U+0442 | |
| Russian: [[У]]у | У у | Russian: у pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: укъ pronounced as /[uk]/ | pronounced as /link/ | u | tool | Russian: к'''у'''ст kust "bush" | 400 | U+0423 / U+0443 | |
| Russian: [[Ф]]ф | Ф ф | Russian: эф pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: фертъ pronounced as /[fʲert]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[fʲ]/ | f | face | Russian: '''ф'''ея féya "fairy" | 500 | U+0424 / U+0444 | |
| Russian: [[Х]]х | Х х | Russian: ха pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: хѣръ pronounced as /[xʲer]/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[xʲ]/ | kh, h | like Scottish "loch", ugh | Russian: ду'''х''' dukh "spirit" | 600 | U+0425 / U+0445 | |
| Russian: [[Ц]]ц | Ц ц | Russian: цэ pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: цы pronounced as /[tsɨ]/ | pronounced as /link/ | ts, c | sits | Russian: коне'''ц''' konéts "end" | 900 | U+0426 / U+0446 | |
| Russian: [[Ч]]ч | Ч ч | Russian: че pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: червь pronounced as /[tɕerfʲ]/ | pronounced as /link/ | ch, č | check | Russian: '''ч'''ас chas "hour" | 90 | U+0427 / U+0447 | |
| Russian: [[Ш]]ш | Ш ш | Russian: ша pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: ша pronounced as /[ʂa]/ | pronounced as /link/ | sh, š | similar to "sh" in shrimp | Russian: ва'''ш''' vash "yours" | – | U+0428 / U+0448 | |
| Russian: [[Щ]]щ | Щ щ | Russian: ща pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: ща pronounced as /[ɕtɕa]/ | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /[ɕ]/ | shch, sch, šč | similar to a double "sh" as in push ships | Russian: '''щ'''ека shcheká "cheek" | – | U+0429 / U+0449 | |
| Russian: [[Ъ]]ъ | Ъ ъ | Russian: твёрдый знак'hard sign' pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: еръ pronounced as /[jer]/ | pronounced as /link/ | ʺ | Russian: об'''ъ'''ект obyékt "object" | – | U+042A / U+044A | ||
| Russian: [[Ы]]ы | Ы ы | Russian: ы pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: еры pronounced as /[jɪˈrɨ]/ | pronounced as /link/ | y | General American roses (rough equivalent) | Russian: т'''ы''' ty "you" | – | U+042B / U+044B | |
| Russian: [[Ь]]ь | Ь ь | Russian: мягкий знак'soft sign' pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: ерь pronounced as /[jerʲ]/ | pronounced as /[ ʲ]/ | ʹ | silent, palatalizes the preceding consonant (if phonologically possible) | Russian: вес'''ь''' vyes' "entire" | – | U+042C / U+044C | |
| Russian: [[Э]]э | Э э | Russian: э pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: э оборотное'rotated «э»' pronounced as /[ˈɛ ɐbɐˈrotnəjɪ]/ | pronounced as /link/ | e, è | met | Russian: '''э'''то èto "this" | – | U+042D / U+044D | |
| Russian: [[Ю]]ю | Ю ю | Russian: ю pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: ю pronounced as /[ju]/ | pronounced as /[ju]/ or pronounced as /[ ʲu]/ | yu, ju | use | Russian: '''ю'''г yug "south" | – | U+042E / U+044E | |
| Russian: [[Я]]я | Я я | Russian: я pronounced as /ru/ | Russian: я pronounced as /[ja]/ | pronounced as /[ja]/ or pronounced as /[ ʲa]/ | ya, ja | yard | Russian: р'''я'''д ryad "row" | – | U+042F / U+044F | |
An alternative form of the letter De (
Д д) closely resembles the Greek letter delta (Δ δ).An alternative form of the letter El (
Л л) closely resembles the Greek letter lambda (Λ λ).| Letter | Cursive | Italics | Old name | IPA | Common transliteration | Similar Russian letter | Examples | No. | Unicode (Hex) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian: [[І]]і | Russian: і десятеричное pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //ʲi//, or pronounced as //j// | i | Like Russian: '''и''' or Russian: '''й''' | стихотворенія (now стихотворения) stikhotvoréniya "poems, (of) poem" | 10 | U+0406 / U+0456 | ||
| Russian: [[Ѣ]]ѣ | Russian: ять pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as //ʲe// | ě | Like Russian: '''е''' | Алексѣй (now Алексей) Aleksěy Alexey | – | U+0462 / U+0463 | ||
| Russian: [[Ѳ]]ѳ | Russian: ѳита pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //f// or pronounced as //fʲ// or unvoiced th /θ/ | f | Like Russian: '''ф''' | орѳографія (now орфография) orfográfiya "orthography, spelling" | 9 | U+0472 / U+0473 | ||
| Russian: [[Ѵ]]ѵ | Russian: ижица pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //i// or pronounced as //ʲi// | í | мѵро (now миро) míro "chrism (myrrh)" | 400 | U+0474 / U+0475 | |||
| Letter | Cursive | Italics | Old name | IPA | Common transliteration | Similar Russian letter | Examples | No. | Unicode (Hex) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian: [[Dze|Ѕ]]ѕ | – | Ѕ ѕ | Russian: ѕѣлѡ pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //z// or pronounced as //zʲ// | z | Russian: '''з''' | Russian: '''s'''ѣлѡ (obsolete stem, now Russian: очень) "very" | 6 | U+0405, U+0455 | |
| Russian: [[Ksi (Cyrillic letter)|Ѯ]]ѯ | – | Ѯ ѯ | Russian: ѯи pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //ks// or pronounced as //ksʲ// | x, ks | кс | Алеѯандръ (now Александр) "Alexander" | 60 | U+046e, U+046f | |
| Russian: [[Psi (Cyrillic)|Ѱ]]ѱ | – | Ѱ ѱ | Russian: ѱи pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //ps// or pronounced as //psʲ// | ps | пс | ѱаломъ (now псалом) "psalm" | 700 | U+0470, U+0471 | |
| Russian: [[Omega (Cyrillic)|Ѡ]]ѡ | – | Ѡ ѡ | Russian: ѡмега pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //o// | o, w | Russian: '''о''' | ѡбразъ (now образ) "image, icon" | 800 | U+0460, U+0461 | |
| Russian: [[Yus|Ѫ]]ѫ | Ѫ ѫ | Russian: юсъ большой pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //u// or pronounced as // ʲu// | ą | Russian: '''у''' or Russian: '''ю''' | пѫть (now путь) "way" | U+046a, U+046b | |||
| Russian: [[Yus|Ѧ]]ѧ | Ѧ ѧ | Russian: юсъ малый pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as // ʲa// | ę | Russian: '''я''' | пѧть (now пять) "five" | 900 | U+0466, U+0467 | ||
| Russian: [[Yus|Ѭ]]ѭ | – | Ѭ ѭ | Russian: юсъ большой іотированный pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //ju// | yą | Russian: '''ю''' | знаѭ (now знаю) "(I) know" | U+046c, U+046d | ||
| Russian: [[Yus|Ѩ]]ѩ | – | Ѩ ѩ | Russian: юсъ малый іотированный pronounced as /ru/ | pronounced as //ja// | yę | Russian: '''я''' | ѩзыкъ (now язык) "tongue, language" | U+0468, U+0469 |
Although it is usually stated that the letters in the table above were eliminated in the typographical reform of 1708, reality is somewhat more complex. The letters were indeed originally omitted from the sample alphabet, printed in a western-style serif font, presented in Peter's edict, along with the letters (Russian: з) (replaced by (Russian: ѕ)), (Russian: и), and (Russian: ф) (the diacriticized letter (Russian: й) was also removed), but were reinstated except (Russian: ѱ) and (Russian: ѡ) under pressure from the Russian Orthodox Church in a later variant of the modern typeface (1710). Nonetheless, since 1735 the Russian Academy of Sciences began to use fonts without (Russian: ѕ), (Russian: ѯ), and (Russian: ѵ); however, (Russian: ѵ) was sometimes used again since 1758.
Although praised by Western scholars and philosophers, it was criticized by clergy and many conservative scholars, who found the new standard too "Russified". Some even went as far as to refer to Peter as the Anti-Christ.[5]
Lomonosov also contributed to the Russian standard language, developing a "High Style" with high influence of Church Slavonic, which was to be used in formal situations such as religious texts; as well as "Medium Style" and "Low Style", deemed for less formal events and casual writing. Lomonosov advocated for the "Medium Style", which later became the basis of the modern Russian standard language.[6]
| Always hard | Ж, Ш, Ц | |
|---|---|---|
| Always soft | Й, Ч, Щ |
However, in modern Russian six consonant phonemes do not have phonemically distinct "soft" and "hard" variants (except in foreign proper names) and do not change "softness" in the presence of other letters: are always hard; are always soft. (Before 1950 Russian linguists considered a semivowel rather than a consonant.)
See Russian phonology for details.
| Э | Ы | О | У | |||
| Soft | Я | Е | И | Ё | Ю | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Each row is roughly analogous to the Latin A, E, I, O, U. | ||||||
(Russian: ы) is an old Proto-Slavic close central vowel, thought to have been preserved better in modern Russian than in other Slavic languages. It was originally nasalized in certain positions: Old Russian Russian: камы pronounced as /[ˈkamɨ̃]/; Modern Russian Russian: камень pronounced as /[ˈkamʲɪnʲ]/ ('rock'). Its written form developed as follows: (Russian: ъ) + (Russian: і) → (Russian: ꙑ) → (Russian: ы).
(Russian: э) was introduced in 1708 to distinguish the non-iotated/non-palatalizing pronounced as //e// from the iotated/palatalizing one. The original usage had been (Russian: е) for the uniotated pronounced as //e//, (Russian: ѥ) or (Russian: ѣ) for the iotated, but (Russian: ѥ) had dropped out of use by the sixteenth century. In native Russian words, (Russian: э) is found only at the beginnings of a few words Russian: э́тот/э́та/э́то 'this (is) (m./f./n.)', Russian: э́ти 'these', Russian: э́кий 'what a', Russian: э́дак/э́так 'that way', Russian: э́дакий/э́такий 'sort of', and interjections like Russian: эй 'hey') or in compound words (e.g. Russian: поэ́тому 'therefore' = Russian: по + Russian: этому, where Russian: этому is the dative case of Russian: этот). In words that come from foreign languages in which iotated pronounced as //e// is uncommon or nonexistent (such as English), (Russian: э) is usually written in the beginning of words and after vowels except (Russian: и) (e.g. Russian: поэ́т, 'poet'), and (Russian: е) after (Russian: и) and consonants. However, the pronunciation is inconsistent. Many of these borrowed words, especially monosyllables, words ending in (Russian: е) and many words where (Russian: е) follows (Russian: т), (Russian: д), (Russian: н), (Russian: с), (Russian: з) or (Russian: р), are pronounced with pronounced as //e// without palatalization or iotation: Russian: секс (seks — 'sex'), Russian: моде́ль (model'
(Russian: ё), introduced by Karamzin in 1797 and made official in 1943 by the Soviet Ministry of Education, marks a pronounced as //jo// sound that historically developed from stressed pronounced as //je//. The written letter (Russian: ё) is optional; it is formally correct to write (e) for both pronounced as //je// and pronounced as //jo//. None of the several attempts in the twentieth century to mandate the use of (Russian: ё) have stuck.
The hard sign ((Russian: ъ)) acts like a "silent back vowel" that separates a succeeding "soft vowel" ((Russian: е, ё, ю, я), but not (Russian: и)) from a preceding consonant, invoking implicit iotation of the vowel with a distinct pronounced as //j// glide. Today it is used mostly to separate a prefix ending with a hard consonant from the following root. Its original pronunciation, lost by 1400 at the latest, was that of a very short middle schwa-like sound, likely pronounced pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/. Until the 1918 reform, no written word could end in a consonant: those that end in a "hard" consonant in modern orthography then had a final (Russian: ъ).
While (Russian: и) is also a soft vowel, root-initial pronounced as //i// following a hard consonant is typically pronounced as pronounced as /[ɨ]/. This is normally spelled (Russian: ы) (the hard counterpart to (Russian: и)) unless this vowel occurs at the beginning of a word, in which case it remains (Russian: и). An alternation between the two letters (but not the sounds) can be seen with the pair Russian: без и́мени ('without name', which is pronounced pronounced as /[bʲɪ'''z ˈɨ'''mʲɪnʲɪ]/) and Russian: безымя́нный ('nameless', which is pronounced pronounced as /[bʲɪ'''zɨ'''ˈmʲænːɨj]/). This spelling convention, however, is not applied with certain loaned prefixes such as in the word Russian: панислами́зм – pronounced as /[ˌpanɨsɫɐˈmʲizm]/, 'Pan-Islamism') and compound (multi-root) words (e.g. Russian: госизме́на – pronounced as /[ˌɡosɨˈzmʲenə]/, 'high treason').
The soft sign ((Russian: ь)) in most positions acts like a "silent front vowel" and indicates that the preceding consonant is palatalized (except for always-hard Russian: ж, ш, ц) and the following vowel (if present) is iotated (including (Russian: ьо) in loans). This is important as palatalization is phonemic in Russian. For example, Russian: брат pronounced as /[brat]/ ('brother') contrasts with Russian: брать pronounced as /[bratʲ]/ ('to take'). The original pronunciation of the soft sign, lost by 1400 at the latest, was that of a very short fronted reduced vowel pronounced as //ĭ// but likely pronounced pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /[jɪ]/. There are still some remnants of this ancient reading in modern Russian, e.g. in co-existing versions of the same name, read and written differently, such as Russian: Мар'''ь'''я and Russian: Мар'''и'''я ('Mary').[9]
When applied after stem-final always-soft (Russian: ч, щ, but not Russian: й) or always-hard (Russian: ж, ш, but not Russian: ц) consonants, the soft sign does not alter pronunciation, but has grammatical significance:[10]
Because Russian borrows terms from other languages, there are various conventions for sounds not present in Russian.
For example, while Russian has no pronounced as /link/, there are a number of common words (particularly proper nouns) borrowed from languages like English and German that contain such a sound in the original language. In well-established terms, such as Russian: галлюцинация pronounced as /ru/ ('hallucination'), this is written with (Russian: г) and pronounced with pronounced as //ɡ//, while newer terms use (Russian: х), pronounced with pronounced as //x//, such as Russian: хобби pronounced as /ru/ ('hobby').
Similarly, words originally with pronounced as /link/ in their source language are either pronounced with pronounced as //t(ʲ)//, as in the name Russian: '''Т'''ельма ('Thelma') or, if borrowed early enough, with pronounced as //f(ʲ)// or pronounced as //v(ʲ)//, as in the names Russian: '''Ф'''ёдор ('Theodore') and Russian: Мат'''в'''е́й ('Matthew').
For the pronounced as /link/ affricate, which is common in the Asian countries that were part of the Russian Empire and the USSR, the letter combination (дж) is used: this is often transliterated into English either as (dzh) or the Dutch form (dj).
The numerical values correspond to the Greek numerals, with (Russian: ѕ) being used for digamma, (Russian: ч) for koppa, and (Russian: ц) for sampi. The system was abandoned for secular purposes in 1708, after a transitional period of a century or so; it continues to be used in Church Slavonic, while general Russian texts use Indo-Arabic numerals and Roman numerals.
The Cyrillic alphabet and Russian spelling generally employ fewer diacritics than those used in other European languages written with the Latin alphabet. The only diacritic, in the proper sense, is the acute accent (◌́) (Russian: Russian: знак ударения 'mark of stress'), which marks stress on a vowel, as it is done in Spanish and Greek. (Unicode has no code points for the accented letters; they are instead produced by suffixing the unaccented letter with .) Although Russian word stress is often unpredictable and can fall on different syllables in different forms of the same word, the diacritic accent is used only in dictionaries, children's books, resources for foreign-language learners, the defining entry (in bold) in articles on Russian Wikipedia, or on minimal pairs distinguished only by stress (for instance, Russian: за́мок 'castle' vs. Russian: замо́к 'lock'). Rarely, it is also used to specify the stress in uncommon foreign words, and in poems with unusual stress used to fit the meter.
The letter (Russian: ё) is a special variant of the letter (Russian: е), which is not always distinguished in written Russian, but the umlaut-like sign has no other uses. Stress on this letter is never marked with a diacritic, as it is always stressed (except in some compounds and loanwords).
Both (Russian: ё) and the letter (Russian: й) have completely separated from (Russian: е) and (Russian: и). (Russian: Й) has been used since the 16th century (except that it was removed in 1708, but reinstated in 1735). Since then, its usage has been mandatory. It was formerly considered a diacriticized letter, but in the 20th century, it came to be considered a separate letter of the Russian alphabet. It was classified as a "semivowel" by 19th- and 20th-century grammarians but since the 1970s, it has been considered a consonant letter.
The frequency of characters in a corpus of written Russian was found to be as follows:[11]
| Rank | Letter | Frequency | Other information | English comparison | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11.18% | By comparison, 'e' in English appears about 13% in texts. | |||
| 2 | 8.75% | Foreign words sometimes use Russian: Е rather than Russian: Э, even if it is pronounced e instead of ye.In addition, Russian: Ё is often replaced by Russian: Е; this makes Russian: Е even more common.(For more information, see Vowels.) | 'T' appears about 9.1% | ||
| 3 | 7.64% | 'A' appears about 8.2% | |||
| 4 | 7.09% | 'O' appears 7.5% | |||
| 5 | Russian: Н | 6.78% | The most common consonant in the Russian alphabet. | 'I' : 7% | |
| 6 | Russian: Т | 6.09% | |||
| 7 | Russian: С | 4.97% | |||
| 8 | Russian: Л | 4.96% | |||
| 9 | Russian: В | 4.38% | |||
| 10 | Russian: Р | 4.23% | |||
| 11 | Russian: К | 3.30% | |||
| 12 | Russian: М | 3.17% | |||
| 13 | Russian: Д | 3.09% | |||
| 14 | Russian: П | 2.47% | |||
| 15 | 2.36% | ||||
| 16 | 2.22% | ||||
| 17 | Russian: Б | 2.01% | |||
| 18 | 1.96% | ||||
| 19 | Russian: Ь | 1.84% | |||
| 20 | Russian: Г | 1.72% | |||
| 21 | Russian: З | 1.48% | |||
| 22 | Russian: Ч | 1.40% | |||
| 23 | Russian: Й | 1.21% | |||
| 24 | Russian: Ж | 1.01% | |||
| 25 | Russian: Х | 0.95% | |||
| 26 | Russian: Ш | 0.72% | |||
| 27 | 0.47% | ||||
| 28 | Russian: Ц | 0.39% | |||
| 29 | 0.36% | Foreign words sometimes use Russian: Е rather than Russian: Э, even if it is pronounced e instead of ye.In addition, Russian: Ё is often replaced by Russian: Е; this makes Russian: Е even more common.(For more information, see Vowels.) | K : 0.77% | ||
| 30 | Russian: Щ | 0.30% | J : 0.15% | ||
| 31 | Russian: Ф | 0.21% | The least common consonant in the Russian alphabet. | X : 0.15% | |
| 32 | 0.20% | In written Russian, (ё) is often replaced by (е).(For more information, see Vowels.) | Q : 0.095% | ||
| 33 | Russian: Ъ | 0.02% | (Ъ) used to be a very common letter in the Russian alphabet. This is because before the 1918 reform, any word ending with a non-palatalized consonant was written with a final Russian: Ъ - e.g., pre-1918 Russian: вотъ vs. post-reform Russian: вот. The reform eliminated the use of Russian: Ъ in this context, leaving it the least common letter in the Russian alphabet.(For more information, see Non-vocalized letters.) | 'Z' : 0.074% |
See also: JCUKEN. Microsoft Windows keyboard layout for personal computers is as follows:
However, there are several variations of so-called "phonetic keyboards" that are often used by non-Russians, where, as far as is possible, pressing an English letter key will type the Russian letter with a similar sound (A → А, S → С, D → Д, F → Ф, etc.).
Until approximately the year 1900, mnemonic names inherited from Church Slavonic were used for the letters. They are given here in the pre-1918 orthography of the post-1708 civil alphabet.
The Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote: "The [names of the] letters that make up the Slavonic alphabet don't represent a meaning at all. Russian: Аз, Russian: буки, Russian: веди, Russian: глаголь, Russian: добро etc. are individual words, chosen just for their initial sound". However, since the names of the first few letters of the Slavonic alphabet seem to form readable text, attempts have been made to compose meaningful snippets of text from groups of consecutive letters for the rest of the alphabet.[12] [13]
Here is one such attempt to "decode" the message:
| Russian: аз буки веди | "I know letters"[14] | ||
| Russian: глаголь добро есть | "To speak is a beneficence" or "The word is property"[15] | ||
| Russian: живете зело, земля, и иже и како люди | "Live, while working heartily, people of Earth, in the manner people should obey" | ||
| Russian: мыслете наш он покой | "try to understand the Universe (the world that is around)" | ||
| Russian: рцы слово твердо | "be committed to your word"[16] | ||
| Russian: ук ферт хер | "The knowledge is fertilized by the Creator, knowledge is the gift of God" | ||
| Russian: цы червь ша ер ять ю | "Try harder, to understand the Light of the Creator" |
In this attempt only lines 1, 2 and 5 somewhat correspond to real meanings of the letters' names, while "translations" in other lines seem to be fabrications or fantasies. For example, "Russian: покой" ("rest" or "apartment") does not mean "the Universe", and "Russian: ферт" does not have any meaning in Russian or other Slavic languages (there are no words of Slavic origin beginning with "f" at all). The last line contains only one translatable word – "Russian: червь" ("worm"), which, however, was not included in the "translation".