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Cyrillic letter De
Cyrillic letter De (v2).svg
Phonetic usage:[d], [t]
Name:добро
Numeric value:4
Derived from:Greek letter Delta (Δ δ)
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̄Е̂ЁЄЄ́ЖЗЗ́
ЅИІІ́ЇЇ́И́
ЍИ̂ӢЙЈКЛЉ
МНЊОО́О̀О̂Ō
ӦПРСС́ТЋЌ
УУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́Ю
Ю́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈ҔҒCyrillic capital letter Ghe with stroke and descender.svgӺҒ̌Ӷ
Cyrillic capital letter Ghe with hook.svgД́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆ӖЕ̃
Ё̄Є̈ҖӜӁЖ̣ҘӞ
З̌З̣З̆ԐԐ̈ӠИ̃Ӥ
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣Ԛ
Л́ӅԮԒЛ̈ӍН́
ӉҢԨӇҤО̆О̃Ӧ̄
ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆ӪԤП̈Ҧ
Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈
Т̌Т̇Т̣ҬCyrillic capital letter Te Soft-sign.svgУ̃Ӳ
У̊Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮
Х̑Х̌ҲӼӾҺԦЦ̌
Ц̈ҴҶҶ̣ӴӋCyrillic capital letter Che with hook.svgҸ
Ч̇Ч̣ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆
Ы̄ӸҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇
ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄Я̆
Я̄Я̈Я̈́Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
Cyrillic capital letter script A.svgА̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆Cyrillic capital letter split by middle ring Ghe.svgԀД̓
Д̀Д̨Cyrillic capital letter archaic Dje.svgԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̑Cyrillic small letter Zhe with long middle leg and stroke through descender.svgCyrillic capital letter bashkir Ie.svgCyrillic small letter Dje with high right breve serif.svgЏ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆԪ
Cyrillic capital letter Shha with Cil top.svgCyrillic capital letter Shha with high right breve serif.svgІ̂І̣І̨Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Dha.svg
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆К̑
К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂Cyrillic capital letter Ka with loop.svgCyrillic small letter ka with ascender.svgЛ̀
ԠԈЛ̑Л̇ԔМ̀М̃
Н̀Н̄Н̧Н̃ԊԢН̡
ѺCyrillic capital letter open at bottom O.svg
Cyrillic capital letter O with left notch.svgП̓П̀П́П̧П̑ҀԚ̆
Cyrillic capital letter Shha with hook.svgР́Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈Ԍ
Ҫ̓Cyrillic capital letter long Es.svgТ̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧
Ꚍ̆Cyrillic small letter Te El Soft-sign.svgCyrillic small letter voiceless L with comma above.svgѸCyrillic capital letter script U.svgУ̇У̨
Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇Х̧Х̓
Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Ha.svgѠѼѾЦ̀Ц́
Ц̓Cyrillic capital letter Tse with long left leg.svgꚎ̆Cyrillic capital letter Cil.svgCyrillic capital letter Cil with bar.svgЧ́
Ч̀Ч̑Ч̓Cyrillic capital letter Char.svgCyrillic small letter Char with high right breve serif.svgԬ
Ꚇ̆Ҽ̆Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆Cyrillic capital letter Che Sha.svg
Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆Э̨
Ю̂Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦ
ѪѨѬѮѰ
ѲѴѶ

De (Д д; italics: Д ∂) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced dental stop /d/, like the pronunciation of ⟨d⟩ in "door". De is usually romanised using the Latin letter D.

History

The Cyrillic letter De was derived from the Greek letter Delta (Δ δ).

In the Early Cyrillic alphabet its name was добро (dobro), meaning "good".

In the Cyrillic numeral system, De had a value of 4.

Form

The major graphic difference between De and its modern Greek equivalent lies in the two descenders ("feet") below the lower corners of the Cyrillic letter. The descenders were borrowed from a Byzantine uncial shape of uppercase Delta.

De, like the Cyrillic letter El, has two typographical variants: an older variant where its top is pointed (like Delta), and a modern one (first used in mid-19th-century fonts) where it is square. Nowadays, almost all books and magazines are printed with fonts with the second variant of the letter; the first one is rather stylish and only a few popular text fonts use it (the best known example is "Baltika" designed in 1951-52 by V. G. Chiminova and others).

handwritten forms
handwritten forms

In italic (Russian) type, the lowercase form looks more like the lowercase Latin ⟨d⟩, or a partial derivative symbol ⟨∂⟩. Southern (Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) typography may prefer a variant that looks like a single-storey lowercase Latin ⟨g⟩. Cursive lowercase De has the same two shapes, but with a different distribution: for example, the g-shaped variant is a standard for Russian schools.[1]

The (Russian-Ukrainian-Belarusian-Bulgarian) cursive form of capital De looks like Latin D as the printed version is not comfortable enough to be written quickly. The Serbian cursive form is closer to the shape of a numeral "2" (identical to the form sometimes used for uppercase cursive Latin Q); this form is unknown in Russia.

Usage

It most often represents the voiced dental plosive /d/. However, word-finally and before voiceless consonants, it represents a voiceless [t]. Before a palatalizing vowel, it represents /dʲ/.

Related letters and other similar characters

Computing codes

Character information
Preview Д д
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER DE CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER DE CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER LONG-LEGGED DE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1044 U+0414 1076 U+0434 7297 U+1C81
UTF-8 208 148 D0 94 208 180 D0 B4 225 178 129 E1 B2 81
Numeric character reference Д Д д д ᲁ ᲁ
Named character reference Д д
KOI8-R and KOI8-U 228 E4 196 C4
Code page 855 167 A7 166 A6
Windows-1251 196 C4 228 E4
ISO-8859-5 180 B4 212 D4
Macintosh Cyrillic 132 84 228 E4

References

  1. ^ "Русский алфавит" [Russian alphabet]. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013.