Cyrillic alphabets

The Cyrillic alphabets are based on the Cyrillic script. The early Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the 9th century and replaced the previous Glagolitic script created by Saints Cyril and Methodius. It's used in the alphabets of many different languages, both Slavic and non-Slavic. As of 2011, around 252 million people use it as the official alphabet for their national languages, with half of them being in Russia. Cyrillic is one of the most-used writing systems in the world.

Some of these alphabets are shown below; for others, see the links. Sounds are written using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Most of these languages have phonemic spelling, but there are some very special cases. For example, in Russian, the letter "г" is pronounced /v/ in some words, like in его (yego), which is pronounced /jɪˈvo/ instead of /jɪˈɡo/.

Unlike the Latin script, which adds marks to letters in order to change languages, the Cyrillic alphabet often creates new letter shapes instead.

Common letters

The table below shows the Cyrillic letters used in most national languages with a Cyrillic alphabet. Exceptions and additions for particular languages are noted below.

Common Cyrillic letters
Upright Italic Name(s) IPA
А а А а A /a/
Б б Б б Be /b/
В в В в Ve /v/
Г г Г г Ge /g/
Д д Д д De /d/
Е е Е е
Ж ж Ж ж Zhe /ʒ/
З з З з Ze /z/
И и И и I /i/
Й й Й й /j/
К к К к Ka /k/
Л л Л л El
М м М м Em /m/
Н н Н н En /n/
О о О о O /o/
П п П п Pe /p/
Р р Р р Er /r/
С с С с Es /s/
Т т Т т Te /t/
У у У у U /u/
Ф ф Ф ф Ef /f/
Х х Х х /x/
Ц ц Ц ц Tse /t͡s/
Ч ч Ч ч Che /t͡ʃ/
Ш ш Ш ш Sha /ʃ/
Щ щ Щ щ Shcha /ʃt͡ʃ/
Ы ы Ы ы Y /ɨ/
Э э Э э E /ɛ/
Ю ю Ю ю
Я я Я я

Language-specific letters

Some languages may have letters that are not listed above, or may use special marks in certain letters. These are listed below by language.

References

The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АБВГҐДЂ
ЃЕЀЁЄЖЗ
З́ЅИЍІЇЙ
ЈКЌЛЉМН
ЊОПРСС́Т
ЋУЎФХЦЧ
ЏШЩЪЫЬЭ
ЮЯ
Non-Slavic letters
А́А̀ӐА̄А̊А̃Ӓ
Ӓ̄В̌ӘӘ́Ә̃ӚӔ
ҒГ̧Г̑Г̄Г̣Г̌Ҕ
ӺҒ̌ӶԀԂ
Д̆Д̣ԪԬД̆Ӗ
Е̄Е̃Ё̄Є̈ӁҖ
ӜԄҘӞЗ̌З̱З̣
ԐԐ̈ӠԆӢИ̃Ҋ
ӤИ́ҚӃҠҞҜ
ԞК̣ԚӅԮԒԠ
ԈԔӍӉҢԨӇ
ҤԢԊО́О̀О̆О̂
О̃О̄ӦӦ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́
Ө̆ӪҨԤҦР̌Ҏ
ԖҪС̣С̱ԌТ̌Т̣
ҬԎУ̃Ӯ
ӰӰ́ӲҮҮ́ҰХ̣
Х̱Х̮Х̑ҲӼӾҺ
Һ̈ԦҴҶӴ
ӋҸҼҾ
Ы̆Ы̄ӸҌЭ̆Э̄Э̇
ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄
Я̆Я̄Я̈ԘԜӀ
Archaic letters
ҀѺ
ѸѠѼѾ
ѢѤѦ
ѪѨѬѮ
ѰѲѴѶ
  • List of Cyrillic letters
  • Cyrillic digraphs