The Cyrillic alphabet is mainly made up of Greek letters, however, there are also some letters that derive from the older Glagolitic alphabet. It is named in honor of Saint Cyril. Cyril and his brother Methodius are credited with major influences or creation of the Glagolitic alphabet, which is an uncial cursive and is a precursor to Cyrillic.
The Cyrillic alphabet is used to write Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages, as well as other languages of the former Soviet Union, such as Tatar (a Turkic language) and Udmurt (a Finno-Ugric language).
The Cyrillic alphabet:
Capital | Small | Name |
---|---|---|
А | а | A |
Б | б | Be |
В | в | Ve |
Г | г | Ghe |
Д | д | De |
Е | е | Ie (or Ye) |
Ë | ë | Yo |
Ж | ж | Zhe |
З | з | Ze |
И | и | I |
Й | й | Short I |
К | к | Ka |
Л | л | El |
М | м | Em |
Н | н | En |
О | о | O |
П | п | Pe |
Р | р | Er |
С | с | Es |
Т | т | Te |
У | у | U |
Ф | ф | Ef |
Х | х | Ha |
Ц | ц | Tse |
Ч | ч | Che |
Ш | ш | Sha |
Щ | щ | Shcha (or shya) |
Ъ | ъ | Hard Sign |
Ы | ы | i (as in 'this') |
Ь | ь | Soft Sign |
Э | э | E |
Ю | ю | Yu |
Я | я | Ya |