Alphabet that uses letters from the Cyrillic script
The
Ukrainian alphabet
(
Ukrainian
:
абе?тка, aзбука
or
алфа?в??т
,
romanized
:
abetka, azbuka
or
alfavit
) is the
set of letters
used to write
Ukrainian
, which is the official language of
Ukraine
. It is one of several national variations of the
Cyrillic script
. It comes from the
Cyrillic script
, which was devised in the 9th century for the first
Slavic
literary language
, called
Old Slavonic
. In the 10th century, it became used in
Kievan Rus'
to write
Old East Slavic
, from which the
Belarusian
,
Russian
,
Rusyn
, and
Ukrainian
alphabets later evolved. The modern Ukrainian alphabet has 33 letters in total: 21
consonants
, 1
semivowel
, 10
vowels
and 1
palatalization sign
. Sometimes the
apostrophe
(') is also included, which has a phonetic meaning and is a mandatory sign in writing, but is not considered as a letter and is not included in the alphabet.
In Ukrainian, it is called
укра?нська абетка
(
IPA:
[?kr??jin?s?k?
??b?tk?]
;
tr.
ukrainska abetka
), from the initial letters
а
(
tr.
a
) and
б
(
tr.
b
);
алфав?т
(
tr.
alfavit
); or, archaically,
азбука
(
tr.
azbuka
), from the
acrophonic
early Cyrillic
letter names
азъ
(
tr.
az
) and
буки
(
tr.
buki
).
Ukrainian text is sometimes
romanised
(written in the
Latin alphabet
) for non-Cyrillic readers or transcription systems. There are several common methods for
romanizing Ukrainian
including the international Cyrillic-to-Latin transcription standard
ISO 9
. There have also been several historical proposals for a native
Ukrainian Latin alphabet
, but none have caught on.
Alphabet
[
edit
]
Ukrainian alphabet by position in alphabet, in both upper- and lower-case
Position
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
32
|
33
|
Uppercase
|
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
|
Lowercase
|
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
|
The alphabet comprises 33 letters, representing 40
phonemes
. The
apostrophe
is also used in the spelling of some words, but is not considered a letter. Ukrainian
orthography
is based on the phonemic principle, with one letter generally corresponding to one phoneme. The orthography also has cases in which semantic, historical, and morphological principles are applied. In the Ukrainian alphabet the “Ь” could also be the last letter in the alphabet (this was its official position from 1932 to 1990).
Twenty-one letters represent
consonants
(
б
,
в
,
г
,
?
,
д
,
ж
,
з
,
к
,
л
,
м
,
н
,
п
,
р
,
с
,
т
,
ф
,
х
,
ц
,
ч
,
ш
,
щ
), ten represent
vowels
(
а
,
е
,
?
,
и
,
?
,
?
,
о
,
у
,
ю
,
я
), and one represents a
semivowel
(й). The
soft sign
(ь)
, which appears only after consonants, indicates that the preceding consonant is soft (
palatalized
).
Also,
alveolar consonants
are palatalized when followed by certain vowels:
д
,
з
,
л
,
н
,
р
,
с
,
т
,
ц
and
дз
are softened when they are followed by a “soft” vowel:
?
,
?
,
ю
,
я
. See
iotation
.
The apostrophe negates palatalization in places that it would be applied by normal orthographic rules. It also appears after labial consonants in some words, such as
?м'я
"name",
[2]
and it is retained in transliterations from the Latin alphabet:
Кот-д'?вуар
(
Cote d'Ivoire
) and
О'Тул
(
O'Toole
).
The apostrophe is used similarly in Belarusian orthography, while the same function is served in Russian by the
hard sign
(
ъ
): compare Ukrainian
об'?кт
and Belarusian
аб'ект
vs. Russian
объект
(“object”).
There are other exceptions to the phonemic principle in the alphabet. Some letters represent two phonemes:
щ
/?t??/
,
?
/ji/
or
/j?/
, and
?
/j?/
,
ю
/ju/
,
я
/j?/
when they do not palatalize a preceding consonant. The
digraphs
дз
and
дж
are normally used to represent single affricates
/d?z/
and
/d??/
. Palatalization of consonants before
е
,
у
,
а
is indicated by writing the corresponding letter
?
,
ю
,
я
instead (theoretical palatalization before
и
is not indicated as
?
already corresponds to the palatized or “soft” counterpart of
и
).
Compared to other Cyrillic alphabets, the modern
[3]
Ukrainian alphabet is most similar to those of the other
East Slavic languages
:
Belarusian
,
Russian
, and
Rusyn
. It has retained the two early Cyrillic letters
?
(i) and
izhe
(
и
) to represent related sounds
/i/
and
/?/
as well as the two historical forms
e
(
е
) and
ye
(
?
). Its unique letters are the following:
History
[
edit
]
Early Cyrillic alphabet
[
edit
]
The
Cyrillic script
was a writing system developed in the
First Bulgarian Empire
in the tenth century, to write the
Old Church Slavonic
liturgical language
. It was named after
Saint Cyril
, who with his brother
Methodius
had created the earlier
Glagolitic
Slavonic script. Cyrillic was based on Greek
uncial script
, and adopted Glagolitic letters for some sounds which were absent in Greek ? it also had some letters which were only used almost exclusively for Greek words or for their
numeric value
:
?
,
?
,
?
,
?
,
?
.
The
early Cyrillic alphabet
was brought to
Kievan Rus'
at the end of the first millennium, along with
Christianity
and the
Old Church Slavonic
language. The alphabet was adapted to the local spoken
Old East Slavic
language, leading to the development of indigenous East Slavic
literary language
alongside the liturgical use of Church Slavonic. The alphabet changed to keep pace with changes in language, as regional dialects developed into the modern Ukrainian,
Belarusian
and
Russian
languages. Spoken Ukrainian has an unbroken history, but the literary language has suffered from two major historical fractures.
Various reforms of the alphabet by scholars of Church Slavonic,
Ruthenian
, and
Russian languages
caused the written and spoken word to diverge by varying amounts. Etymological rules from Greek and
South Slavic languages
made the orthography imprecise and difficult to master.
Meletii Smotrytskyi's
Slavonic Grammar of 1619 was very influential on the use of Church Slavonic, and codified the use of the letters Я (
ya
), Е (
e
), and ? (
g
). Various
Russian alphabet reforms
were influential as well, especially
Peter the Great
's Civil Script of 1708 (the
Grazhdanka
). It created a new alphabet specifically for non-religious use, and adopted Latin-influenced letterforms for type. The Civil Script eliminated some archaic letters (
?
,
?
,
?
,
?
), but reinforced an etymological basis for the alphabet, influencing
Mykhailo Maksymovych
's nineteenth-century
Galician
Maksymovychivka
script for Ukrainian, and its descendant, the
Pankevychivka
, which is still in use, in a slightly modified form, for the
Rusyn language
in
Carpathian Ruthenia
.
Nineteenth-century reforms
[
edit
]
In reaction to the hard-to-learn etymological alphabets, several reforms attempted to introduce a
phonemic
Ukrainian orthography during the nineteenth century, based on the example of
Vuk Karad?i?
's Serbian Cyrillic. These included
Panteleimon Kulish
's
Kulishivka
alphabet used in his 1857
Notes on Southern Rus'
and
Hramatka
, the
Drahomanivka
alphabet promoted in the 1870s by
Mykhailo Drahomanov
, and Yevhen Zhelekhivskyi's
Zhelekhivka
alphabet from 1886, which standardized the letters ? (
yi
) and ? (
g
).
A Ukrainian cultural revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries stimulated literary and academic activity in both
Dnieper Ukraine
(part of the
Russian Empire
) and western Ukraine (Austrian-controlled
Galicia
). In Galicia, the Polish-dominated local government tried to introduce a
Latin alphabet for Ukrainian
, which backfired by prompting a heated “War of the Alphabets”, bringing the issue of orthography into the public eye. The Cyrillic script was favoured, but conservative Ukrainian cultural factions (the Old Ruthenians and
Russophiles
) opposed publications which promoted a pure Ukrainian orthography.
In Dnieper Ukraine, proposed reforms suffered from periodic bans of publication and performance in the Ukrainian language. One such decree was the notorious 1876
Ems Ukaz
, which banned the Kulishivka and imposed a Russian orthography until 1905 (called the
Yaryzhka
, after the Russian letter
yery
ы). The Kulishivka was adopted by Ukrainian publications, only to be banned again from 1914 until after the
February Revolution
of 1917.
The Zhelekhivka became official in Galicia in 1893, and was adopted by many eastern Ukrainian publications after the Revolution. The
People's Republic of Ukraine
adopted official Ukrainian orthographies in 1918 and 1919, and Ukrainian publication increased, and then flourished under Skoropadsky's
Hetmanate
. Under the
Bolshevik government of Ukraine
, Ukrainian orthographies were confirmed in 1920 and 1921.
Unified orthography
[
edit
]
In 1925, the
Ukrainian SSR
created a Commission for the Regulation of Orthography. During the period of
Ukrainization
in
Soviet
Ukraine, the 1927 International Orthographic Conference was convened in
Kharkiv
, from May 26 to June 6. At the conference, a standardized Ukrainian orthography and method for transliterating foreign words were established, a compromise between Galician and Soviet proposals, called the
Ukrainian orthography of 1928
, or
Skrypnykivka
, after Ukrainian Commissar of Education
Mykola Skrypnyk
. It was officially recognized by the Council of People's Commissars in 1928, and by the Lviv
Shevchenko Scientific Society
in 1929, and adopted by the
Ukrainian diaspora
. The Skrypnykivka was the first universally adopted native Ukrainian orthography.
However, by 1930
Stalin
's government started to reverse the Ukrainization policy, partly attributing the peasant resistance to
collectivization
to Ukrainian nationalists.
[4]
In 1933, the
orthographic reforms
were abolished, decrees were passed to bring the orthography steadily closer to Russian. His reforms discredited and labelled “nationalist deviation”, Skrypnyk committed suicide rather than face a show trial and execution or deportation. The Ukrainian letter
ge
?,
[5]
and the phonetic combinations ль, льо, ля were eliminated, and Russian etymological forms were reintroduced (for example, the use of -?а- in place of -я-). An official orthography was published in Kyiv in 1936, with revisions in 1945 and 1960. This orthography is sometimes called
Postyshivka
, after
Pavel Postyshev
, Stalin's official who oversaw the dismantling of Ukrainisation.
In the meantime, the Skrypnykivka continued to be used by Ukrainians in Galicia and the worldwide diaspora.
During the period of
Perestroika
in the USSR, a new Ukrainian Orthographic Commission was created in 1986. A revised orthography was published in 1990, reintroducing the letter ge
?
. It also revised the alphabetical order, moving the soft sign
ь
from the end of the alphabet, to a position before the letter
ю
, which helps sort Ukrainian text together with Belarusian (following a proposal by L. M. Ivanenko of the Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics).
On 21 May 2019, the
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
approved a
new version of the orthography
prepared by the Ukrainian National Commission on Spelling. The new edition brought to life some features of
orthography in 1928
, which were part of the Ukrainian orthographic tradition. At the same time, the commission was guided by the understanding that the language practice of Ukrainians in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century has already become part of the Ukrainian orthographic tradition.
[6]
Letter names and pronunciation
[
edit
]
Letters and symbols of the Ukrainian alphabet
Upright
|
Most common transliteration
|
English equivalent (approximation)
|
Example in Ukrainian
|
Name
|
Traditional name
|
IPA
|
Etymology
|
А а
|
a
|
f
a
ther, l
a
rge
|
а
бетк
а
(alphabet)
|
а
/?/
|
аз
|
/?/
|
From the Greek letter
alpha
(Α α)
|
Б б
|
b
|
b
ad,
b
ig,
b
ed
|
б
а
б
уся (grandmother)
|
бе
/b?/
|
буки
|
/b/
,
/b˙/
[7]
|
From the Greek letter
beta
(Β β)
|
В в
|
v
|
w
ater,
w
hile
|
в
?л (ox)
|
ве
/w?/
|
в?д?
|
/w/
,
[a]
/u?/
,
/?/
[8]
|
From the Greek letter
beta
(Β β)
|
Г г
|
h
|
neighbour
h
ood,
h
ello
|
г
оворити (to talk)
|
ге
/??/
|
глаголь
|
/?/
|
From the Greek letter
gamma
(Γ γ)
|
? ?
[b]
|
g
|
e
g
g,
g
old
|
?
уля (lump)
|
?е
/??/
|
?
|
/?/
|
It comes from the italic variant of the Greek letter
gamma
(Γ γ). In the 14th century it was transmitted in writing by the digraph
кг
(
кг
рунт ?
?
рунт). It was used for the first time in the
Peresopnytsia Gospel
(1556?1561). Officially became a part of the alphabet in
Meletius Smotrytsky
's "Grammar" in 1616. Removed from the alphabet in 1933 as a part of the
Russification of Ukraine
. Restored in the third edition of "
Ukrainian orthography
" in 1990. Rare, and only appears in native words and toponyms.
|
Д д
|
d
|
d
og,
d
oing
|
д
есь (somewhere)
|
де
/d?/
|
добро
|
/d/
,
/d?/
,
/?ː/
,
/d?z/
,
/d?z?/
,
[10]
/d??/
[11]
|
From the Greek letter
delta
(Δ δ)
|
Е е
|
e
|
b
e
d
|
ц
е
рква (church)
|
е
/?/
|
?сть
|
/?/
,
/??/
[12]
|
From the Greek letter
epsilon
(Ε ε)
|
? ?
|
ye, ie
|
ye
llow,
ye
s,
ye
t
|
мо
?
(my)
|
?
/j?/
|
?
|
/j?/
or
/??/
|
Alluded to the Cyrillic letter
?
, but not directly derived from it. One of the variants of the Cyrillic letter е / ?. It was first used in the spelling of "Русалка Дн?стровая" in 1837 to indicate the sounds [j?] and [?] with a softening of the preceding consonant, before that it was used in Maksymovychivka instead of the modern e (ж
?
ньци ? ж
е
нц?).
|
Ж ж
|
zh
|
plea
s
ure, vi
s
ion
|
ав
ж
е
ж
(of course)
|
же
/??/
|
жив?те
|
/?/
,
/??ː/
,
/d??/
[11]
|
From the
Glagolitic
letter Zhivete (?), that most likely comes from the Coptic letter janjia (? ?). There is no corresponding letter in the Greek alphabet.
|
З з
|
z
|
z
oo
|
з
абавка (toy)
|
зе
/z?/
|
земля
|
/z/
,
/z?/
,
/z?ː/
,
/d?z/
,
/d?z?/
,
[10]
/s/
,
/s?/
[13]
|
From the Greek letter
zeta
(Ζ ζ)
|
И и
|
y
|
m
i
tt
|
п
и
сат
и
(to write)
|
и
/??/
|
?же (осьмеричне)
|
/??/
,
/?/
,
/??/
[14]
|
From the Greek letter
eta
(Η η)
|
? ?
|
i
|
m
ee
t
|
н
?
ч (night)
|
?
/i/
|
?(же?) (десятеричне)
|
/i/
,
/?i/
|
From the Greek letter
iota
(Ι ι), from the Phoenician
yodh
. Since 1818, the letter has been the only letter to indicate the sound
/i/
in the Ukrainian language. Before that, the letters и, ?, o, e, u were used.
|
? ?
|
yi, i
|
yea
st
|
кра
?
на (country)
|
?
/ji/
|
?
|
/ji/
|
The letter was officially introduced to the alphabet by P. Zhytetskyi and K. Mykhalchuk in 1874?1875. Before that, the letters ?, и and е were used (e.g.
?
жакъ ?
?
жак,
ии
?
??
).
|
Й й
|
y, i
|
bo
y
, to
y
|
це
й
(this)
|
йот
/j?t/
, й
/?j/
|
?
|
/j/
|
The letter
и
with a
breve
. Borrowed from Greek, where it was used to indicate short sounds. For the sound
/j/
, the letter began to be used in M. Smotrytsky's "Grammar" since 1619.
|
К к
|
k
|
c
at,
k
ing
|
к
анал (channel)
|
ка
/k?/
|
како
|
/k/
,
/?/
[15]
|
From the Greek letter
kappa
(Κ κ)
|
Л л
|
l
|
l
ike
|
л
ити (to pour)
|
ел
/?l/
|
люди(?)
|
/l/
,
/l?/
,
/?ː/
|
From the Greek letter
lambda
(Λ λ)
|
М м
|
m
|
m
y
|
м
?сто (city)
|
ем
/?m/
|
мисл?те
|
/m/
|
From the Greek letter
mu
(Μ μ)
|
Н н
|
n
|
n
ever
|
ваг?т
н
а (pregnant)
|
ен
/?n/
|
нащ
|
/n/
,
/n?/
,
/?ː/
|
From the Greek letter
nu
(Ν ν)
|
О о
|
o
|
l
o
ng, m
o
re
|
вп
о
д
о
байка (like)
|
о
/?/
|
он
|
/?/
,
/o/
[16]
|
From the Greek letter
omicron
(Ο ο)
|
П п
|
p
|
p
eople
|
п
ес (dog)
|
пе
/p?/
|
покой
|
/p/
,
/p˙/
[17]
|
From the Greek letter
pi
(Π π)
|
Р р
|
r
|
rolled
r
, Italian te
rr
a
|
р
одина (family)
|
ер
/?r/
|
рци
|
/r/
,
/r?/
|
From the Greek letter
rho
(Ρ ρ)
|
С с
|
s
|
s
ea,
s
o
|
с
ерпень (August)
|
ес
/?s/
|
слово
|
/s/
,
/s?/
,
/s?ː/
,
/z/
,
/z?/
[18]
|
From the Greek letter
sigma
(Σ σ/?)
|
Т т
|
t
|
s
t
ar,
t
op
|
дода
т
ок (app)
|
те
/t?/
|
твердо
|
/t/
,
/t?/
,
/cː/
,
/d/
,
/d?/
[19]
|
From the Greek letter
tau
(Τ τ)
|
У у
|
u
|
b
oo
t
|
д?д
у
сь (grandfather)
|
у
/u/
|
ук
|
/u/
,
/u?/
|
Originally it was a
digraph
of the Cyrillic letters О and ?, which repeats the Greek way of denoting the sound [u] by combining the letters ου.
|
Ф ф
|
f
|
f
ight
|
ф
ото (photo)
|
еф
/?f/
|
ферт
|
/f/
|
From the Greek letter
phi
(Φ φ)
|
Х х
|
kh
|
u
gh
|
х
ворий (sick)
|
ха
/x?/
|
х?р
|
/x/
|
From the Greek letter
chi
(Χ χ)
|
Ц ц
|
ts
|
si
ts
|
ц
укор (sugar)
|
це
/t?s?/
|
ци
|
/t?s/
,
/t?s?/
,
/t?s?ː/
|
There is no exact version of the origin, letters similar in spelling existed in several ancient alphabets: in
Ethiopian
,
Aramaic
and alphabets derived from it, such as
Hebrew
and
Coptic
.
|
Ч ч
|
ch
|
ch
at,
ch
eck
|
рукави
ч
ка (glove)
|
че
/t???/
|
черв
|
/t??/
,
/t???ː/
,
/d??/
[20]
|
Possibly from the Hebrew letter
tsade
(?), maybe it has the same origin as the letter
ц
.
Francisk Skaryna
used the Greek letter
koppa
(? ?) for the letter
ч
.
|
Ш ш
|
sh
|
sh
oes
|
ш
афа (wardrobe)
|
ша
/??/
|
ша
|
/?/
,
/??ː/
|
There is no exact version of the origin, letters similar in spelling existed in several ancient alphabets: the
Ethiopian
ε,
Aramaic
and alphabets derived from it, such as the
Hebrew
? or the
Coptic
?.
|
Щ щ
|
shch
|
fre
sh
ch
erries
|
бор
щ
(
Borscht
)
|
ща
/?t???/
|
ща
|
/?t??/
|
By origin, it is a
ligature
of the letters
ш
and
т
(in modern
Bulgarian
, the letter щ is still read as [?t]).
|
Ь ь
[c]
|
?
|
silent,
palatalizes
a consonant
|
к?н
ь
(horse)
|
м'який знак
/mj??k?j
?zn?k/
|
?рь
|
/?/
|
It is most likely a modification of the Early Cyrillic
О
with a dash on top, or the Early Cyrillic letter
?
, that still exists in Ukrainian. The letter ь became the graphic basis for other Cyrillic letters, like ъ, ы and ?.
|
Ю ю
|
yu, iu
|
u
se
|
кл
ю
ч (key)
|
ю
/ju/
|
ю
|
/ju/
,
/?u/
|
Corresponds to the Greek letter combination
οι
(omicron and iota)
|
Я я
|
ya, ia
|
ya
rd
|
я
(I)
|
я
/j?/
|
малий юс
|
/j?/
,
/??/
|
Originally the Cyrillic "little yus" comes from a Glagolitic letter, that probably borrowed it from Greek ligatures like
εν
or
ον
. The modern form was introduced to the alphabet after
Peter I
's reforms.
|
'
|
?
|
silent, prevents
palatalization
|
м'ясо (meat)
|
апостроф
/??p?str?f/
|
?
|
?
[d]
|
?
|
For other transliteration systems, see
romanisation of Ukrainian
.
Notes:
- ^
The pronunciation of
/w/
varies depending on context; it is labial before back vowels and labiodental before front vowels. It is also vocalised to
[u?]
in the syllable coda.
[
clarification needed
]
- ^
Ge (?) was officially banned in
Soviet Ukraine
from 1933 to 1990;
[9]
it is missing from some computer
character encodings
and fonts, such as
ISO-8859-5
and
MS-DOS Cyrillic
.
- ^
The
soft sign
(ь) indicates the softening (
palatalization
) of the preceding consonant letter. It was at the end of the alphabet before 1990, when the new official orthography changed its position.
- ^
The apostrophe is used in Ukrainian as a
hard sign
analogous to the Russian letter
ъ
, indicating that the consonant preceding a soft vowel is not
palatalized
, when it otherwise would be.
There are also
digraphs
which are pronounced as a single sound:
⟨дж⟩
, which is pronounced
/d?/
, like
dg
in
knowledge
, and
⟨дз⟩
, which is realized as
/d?z/
. Examples:
джм?ль
(
dzhmil
, "a bumble bee"),
бджола
(
bdzhola
, "a bee"),
дзвоник
(
dzvonyk
, "a bell").
Historic letters
[
edit
]
Upright
|
Italics
|
Most common transliteration
|
Modern Ukrainian equivalent
|
Name
|
IPA
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
ye, ie, je
|
е, ?
|
йотоване е
|
/j?/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
z
|
з
|
(д)з?ло
|
/z/
,
/z?/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
o
|
о
|
омега, о
|
/o/
|
Ъ ъ
|
Ъ ъ
|
"
|
' (apostrophe)
|
?р
|
?
|
Ы ы
|
Ы ы
|
y
|
и
|
?ри
|
/?/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
?
|
?
|
ять
|
/i/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
ya, ia, ja
|
я
|
йотоване а
|
/j?/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
?
|
я
|
малий юс
|
/??/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
?
|
у
|
великий юс
|
/??/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
y?
|
я
|
малий йотований юс
|
/j??/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
y?
|
ю
|
великий йотований юс
|
/j??/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
ps
|
пс
|
пс?
|
/ps/
,
/ps?/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
ks
|
кс
|
кс?
|
/ks/
,
/ks?/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
f
|
ф
|
ф?та
|
/θ/
,
/f/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
i, v
|
?, в
|
?жиця
|
/i/
,
/v/
|
Ё ё
|
Ё ё
|
yo, io, jo, e
|
йо, ьо
|
йо
|
/j?/
|
? ?
|
? ?
|
w, ?
|
в
|
коротке у
|
/u?/
|
Э э
|
Э э
|
e
|
e
|
e
|
/e/
|
Letterforms and typography
[
edit
]
In print, several
lowercase
Cyrillic letters resemble smaller versions of their corresponding
uppercase
forms.
Handwritten Cyrillic
cursive
letterforms vary somewhat from their corresponding printed (typeset) counterparts, particularly for the letters
г
,
д
,
и
,
й
, and
т
.
Like
Latin script
, whose typefaces have
roman
and
italic
forms, a Cyrillic type face (
шрифт
,
shryft
) has upright (
прямий
,
priamyi
) and cursive (курсивний,
kursyvnyi
) font forms, the latter of which later came to be called (
письм?вка
,
pys’mivka
). Several lowercase letters in the cursive printed form bear little resemblance to the corresponding lowercase letters in the upright printed form, more closely resembling the corresponding handwritten lowercase cursive forms instead, particularly for the letters
г
,
д
,
и
,
й
,
п
, and
т
.
Quoted text is typically enclosed in unspaced French
guillemets
(≪angle-quotes≫), or in lower and upper
quotation marks
as in German.
Ukrainian quotation marks in Unicode and HTML entities
standard
|
alternative
|
≪
цитата
≫
|
?
цитата
“
|
U+00AB U+00BB
|
U+201E U+201F
|
« »
|
„ ‟
|
Reference:
Bringhurst, Robert
(2002).
The Elements of Typographic Style
(version 2.5), pp. 262?264. Vancouver, Hartley & Marks.
ISBN
0-88179-133-4
.
Encoding Ukrainian
[
edit
]
There are various
character encodings
for representing Ukrainian with computers.
ISO 8859-5
[
edit
]
ISO 8859-5
encoding is missing the letter
?
.
KOI8-U
[
edit
]
KOI8-U
stands for
Код обм?ну ?нформац?? 8 б?тний ? укра?нський
, "Code for information
interchange 8 bit ? Ukrainian", analogous to "
ASCII
". KOI8-U is a Ukrainianized version of
KOI8-R
.
Windows-1251
[
edit
]
Windows-1251
works for the Ukrainian alphabet, as well as for other Cyrillic alphabets.
Unicode
[
edit
]
Ukrainian falls within the Cyrillic (U+0400 to U+04FF) and Cyrillic Supplementary (U+0500 to U+052F) blocks of
Unicode
. The characters in the range U+0400?U+045F are basically the characters from
ISO 8859-5
moved upward by 864 positions.
In the following table, Ukrainian letters have titles indicating their Unicode information and HTML entity. In a visual browser you can hold the mouse pointer over the letter to see this information.
Ukrainian letters in the Unicode Cyrillic block
First 3 digits
|
Last digit
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
D
|
E
|
F
|
040
|
?
|
Ё
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
041
|
А
|
Б
|
В
|
Г
|
Д
|
Е
|
Ж
|
З
|
И
|
Й
|
К
|
Л
|
М
|
Н
|
О
|
П
|
042
|
Р
|
С
|
Т
|
У
|
Ф
|
Х
|
Ц
|
Ч
|
Ш
|
Щ
|
Ъ
|
Ы
|
Ь
|
Э
|
Ю
|
Я
|
043
|
а
|
б
|
в
|
г
|
д
|
е
|
ж
|
з
|
и
|
й
|
к
|
л
|
м
|
н
|
о
|
п
|
044
|
р
|
с
|
т
|
у
|
ф
|
х
|
ц
|
ч
|
ш
|
щ
|
ъ
|
ы
|
ь
|
э
|
ю
|
я
|
045
|
?
|
ё
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
046
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
047
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
048
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
049
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
04A
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
04B
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
04C
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
04D
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
04E
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
04F
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
050
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
051
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
052
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
Web pages and XML
[
edit
]
Elements in
HTML
and
XML
would normally have the
Ukrainian language
indicated using the
IETF language tag
uk
(
lang="uk"
in HTML and
xml:lang="uk"
in XML). Although indicating the writing system is normally not necessary, this can be accomplished by adding a script subtag, for example to distinguish Cyrillic Ukrainian text (
uk-Cyrl
) from
romanized Ukrainian
(
uk-Latn
).
Keyboard layout
[
edit
]
The standard Ukrainian
keyboard layout
for personal computers is as follows:
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. "First Alphabet Found in Egypt", Archaeology 53, Issue 1 (Jan./Feb. 2024): 21.
- ^
"Read Ukrainian!"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-03-06.
- ^
"Use of Ukrainian Language, Serbia"
. 10 October 2016.
- ^
Applebaum, Anne
(2017).
Red Famine
. Penguin. p. 159.
ISBN
978-0-141-97828-4
.
- ^
Applebaum, Anne
(2017).
Red Famine
. Penguin. p. 224.
ISBN
978-0-141-97828-4
.
- ^
"The Ministry of Education and Science explained why they changed the Ukrainian spelling. Law and Business"
.
zib.com.ua
. Retrieved
2021-04-06
.
- ^
Half-palatalaized sound [b˙] occurs in some loanwords such as бюро.
- ^
Half-palatalaized sound [w˙] occurs in words such as свято, цвях, дзвякнути.
- ^
Vakulenko, S.
1933 in history of Ukrainian language: current norm and spelling practice (on example of editorial policy of "Komunist" newspaper (1933 ?й р?к в ?стор?? укра?нсько? мови: чинна норма та правописна практика (на приклад? редакц?йно? пол?тики газети ≪Комун?ст≫))
. Historians. 3 December 2012
- ^
a
b
In the digraph
дз
.
- ^
a
b
In the digraph
дж
.
- ^
Is pronounced the same as
[??]
.
- ^
The prefix
з-
and the preposition
з
before unvoiced consonants are devoiced to [s]: зц?лити [s?ts?i'l?t?], з хати ['sx?t?]. The prefix роз- is pronounced [ros] before unvoiced consonants in fast and normal speech tempo: розказа?ти [rosk?'z?t?]. Before [s] it is usually pronounced with [z]: розсипати [roz's?p?t?]. In slow tempo, роз- is pronounced [roz]: [rozk?'z?t?]. The prefix без- before unvoiced consonants is pronounced [bez-] in slow and normal speech tempo: безпека [b??z'p?k?]. In fast speech, it sounds as [bes]: [b??s'p?k?].
- ^
Sounds the same as
[??]
.
- ^
Unvoiced consonants are pronounced as voiced before voiced obstruents: вокза?л [wo?'z?l].
- ^
If it is labialized.
- ^
Half-palatalized sound [p˙] occurs in some loanwords such as пюре.
- ^
Unvoiced consonants are pronounced as voiced before voiced obstruents: о?сь де ['oz?d??].
- ^
Unvoiced consonants are pronounced as voiced before voiced obstruents: боротьба? [borod?'b?].
- ^
Unvoiced consonants are pronounced as voiced before voiced obstruents: хоч би? [xod??'b?].
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Meletius Smotrytsky
(1619).
Slavonic Grammar
. (
Reprint edition
, with Ukrainian interface.)
- Ivan Ohienko
(1918).
Naiholovnishi pravyla ukrainskoho pravopysu
. Kyiv, UNR Ministry of Education.
- Ivan Ohienko (1919).
Holovnishi pravyla ukrainskoho pravopysu
. Kyiv, UNR Ministry of Education.
- All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (VUAN, 1920).
- People's Commissariat of Education (1921).
- (1928)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kharkiv,
Academy of Science of the Ukrainian SSR
.
- (1936)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kyiv, Academy of Science of the Ukrainian SSR.
- L. Bulakhovsky, ed. (1946).
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kyiv, May 8, 1945: Academy of Science of the Ukrainian SSR.
- (1960)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kyiv, Academy of Science of the Ukrainian SSR.
- (1990)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kyiv, Academy of Science of the Ukrainian SSR.
- (2007)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kyiv, Naukova Dumka.
Online version
.
- (2012)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kyiv, Naukova Dumka.
Online version
.
- (2015)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Kyiv, Naukova Dumka.
Online version
.
- (2019)
Ukrainskyi pravopys
. Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
Download page
.
- Elias Shklanka,
Ukrainian Primer
. New York: Knyho-Spilka.
- Orest Dubas, ed.,
Mii naikrashchyi Slovnyk
. (М?й найкращий Словник), 2nd edition. Ukrainian adaptation of Richard Scarry's
Best Word Book Ever
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Aspects
| |
---|
Regulatory institutions
| |
---|