Alphabet
The Russian alphabet is as follows:
| Letter | Handwriting | Name | Old name | IPA | English example | № | Unicode (Hex) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Аа | а |
азъ |
/a/ | father | 1 | U+0410 / U+0430 | ||
| Бб | бэ |
буки |
/b/ or /bʲ/ | bit | – | U+0411 / U+0431 | ||
| Вв | вэ |
вѣди |
/v/ or /vʲ/ | vine | 2 | U+0412 / U+0432 | ||
| Гг | гэ |
глаголь |
/ɡ/ | go | 3 | U+0413 / U+0433 | ||
| Дд | дэ |
добро |
/d/ or /dʲ/ | do | 4 | U+0414 / U+0434 | ||
| Ее | е |
есть |
/je/ or / ʲe/ | yet | 5 | U+0415 / U+0435 | ||
| Ёё | ё |
– | /jo/ or / ʲo/ | yolk | – | U+0401 / U+0451 | ||
| Жж | жэ |
живѣте |
/ʐ/ | pleasure | – | U+0416 / U+0436 | ||
| Зз | зэ |
земля |
/z/ or /zʲ/ | zoo | 7 | U+0417 / U+0437 | ||
| Ии | и |
иже |
/i/ or / ʲi/ | me | 8 | U+0418 / U+0438 | ||
| Йй | и краткое |
и съ краткой |
/j/ | yes | – | U+0419 / U+0439 | ||
| Кк | ка |
како |
/k/ or /kʲ/ | kitten | 20 | U+041A / U+043A | ||
| Лл | эл or эль or |
люди |
/l/ or /lʲ/ | lamp | 30 | U+041B / U+043B | ||
| Мм | эм |
мыслѣте |
/m/ or /mʲ/ | map | 40 | U+041C / U+043C | ||
| Нн | эн |
нашъ |
/n/ or /nʲ/ | not | 50 | U+041D / U+043D | ||
| Оо | o |
онъ |
/o/ | more | 70 | U+041E / U+043E | ||
| Пп | пэ |
покой |
/p/ or /pʲ/ | spell | 80 | U+041F / U+043F | ||
| Рр | эр |
рцы |
/r/ or /rʲ/ | rolled r | 100 | U+0420 / U+0440 | ||
| Сс | эс |
слово |
/s/ or /sʲ/ | see | 200 | U+0421 / U+0441 | ||
| Тт | тэ |
твердо |
/t/ or /tʲ/ | stool | 300 | U+0422 / U+0442 | ||
| Уу | у |
укъ |
/u/ | boot | 400 | U+0423 / U+0443 | ||
| Фф | эф |
фертъ |
/f/ or /fʲ/ | face | 500 | U+0424 / U+0444 | ||
| Хх | ха |
хѣръ |
/x/ | Loch (voiceless velar fricative) | 600 | U+0425 / U+0445 | ||
| Цц | це |
цы |
/t͡s/ | sits | 900 | U+0426 / U+0446 | ||
| Чч | че |
червь |
/t͡ɕ/ | chip | 90 | U+0427 / U+0447 | ||
| Шш | ша |
ша |
/ʂ/ | Close to shut (voiceless retroflex fricative) | – | U+0428 / U+0448 | ||
| Щщ | ща |
ща |
/ɕɕ/ | sheer (sometimes instead pronounced as with fresh cheese) (a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative) | – | U+0429 / U+0449 | ||
| Ъъ | твёрдый знак |
еръ |
silent, prevents palatalization of the preceding consonant | – | U+042A / U+044A | |||
| Ыы | ы |
еры |
roses or silly (close central unrounded vowel) | – | U+042B / U+044B | |||
| Ьь | мягкий знак |
ерь |
/ ʲ/ | silent, slightly palatalizes the preceding consonant (if it is phonologically possible) | – | U+042C / U+044C | ||
| Ээ | э |
э оборотное |
/e/ | met | – | U+042D / U+044D | ||
| Юю | ю |
ю |
/ju/ or / ʲu/ | use | – | U+042E / U+044E | ||
| Яя | я |
я |
/ja/ or / ʲa/ | yard | – | U+042F / U+044F | ||
| letters eliminated in 1917-1918 | ||||||||
| Іі | – | – | і десятеричное |
/i/ or / ʲi/ or /j/ | Like и or й | 10 | ||
| Ѳѳ | – | – | ѳита |
/f/ or /fʲ/ | Like ф | 9 | ||
| Ѣѣ | – | – | ять |
/e/ or / ʲe/ | Like е | – | ||
| Ѵѵ | – | – | ижица |
/i/ or / ʲi/ | Usually like и, see below | – | ||
| letters eliminated before 1750 | ||||||||
| Ѕѕ | – | – | зѣло |
/z/ or /zʲ/ | Like з | 6 | ||
| Ѯѯ | – | – | кси |
/ks/ or /ksʲ/ | Like кс | 60 | ||
| Ѱѱ | – | – | пси |
/ps/ or /psʲ/ | Like пс | 700 | ||
| Ѡѡ | – | – | омега |
/o/ | Like о | 800 | ||
| Ѫѫ | – | – | юсъ большой |
/u/, /ju/ or / ʲu/ | Like у or ю | – | ||
| Ѧѧ | – | – | юсъ малый |
/ja/ or / ʲa/ | Like я | – | ||
| Ѭѭ | – | – | юсъ большой іотированный |
/ju/ or / ʲu/ | Like ю | – | ||
| Ѩѩ | – | – | юсъ малый іотированный |
/ja/ or / ʲa/ | Like я | – | ||
The consonant letters represent both as "soft" (palatalized, represented in the IPA with a ⟨ʲ⟩) and "hard" consonant phonemes. If a consonant letter is followed by a vowel letter, then the soft/hard quality of the consonant depends on whether the vowel is meant to follow "hard" consonants ⟨а, о, э, у, ы⟩ or "soft" ones ⟨я, ё, е, ю, и⟩; see below. A handful of consonant phonemes do not have phonemically distinct "soft" and "hard" variants. See Russian phonology for details.
Read more about this topic: Russian Alphabet
Famous quotes containing the word alphabet:
“I wonder, Mr. Bone man, what you’re thinking
of your fury now, gone sour as a sinking whale,
crawling up the alphabet on her own bones.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
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