This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: "Yu" Cyrillic – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Cyrillic letter Yu
Cyrillic letter Yu - uppercase and lowercase.svg
Phonetic usage:[ju]
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̄Е̂ЁЄЄ́ЖЗЗ́
ЅИІІ́ЇЇ́И́Ѝ
И̂ӢЙЈКЛЉМ
НЊОО́О̀О̂ŌӦ
ПРСС́ТЋЌУ
У́У̀У̂ӮЎӰФХ
ЦЧЏШЩЪЪ̀Ы
Ы́ЬѢЭЭ́ЮЮ́Ю̀
ЯЯ́Я̀
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.svgУ̃ӲУ̊
Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑
Х̌ҲӼӾҺԦЦ̌Ц̈
ҴҶҶ̣ӴӋCyrillic capital letter Che with hook.svgҸЧ̇
Ч̣ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆Ы̄
ӸҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇Ӭ
Ӭ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄Я̆Я̄
Я̈Я̈́Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
Cyrillic capital letter script A.svgА̨Б̀Б̣В̀Г̀Г̧Г̄
Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆Cyrillic capital letter split by middle ring Ghe.svgД̓Д̀Д̨
ԀԂЕ̇Е̨Ж̑Cyrillic small letter Zhe with long middle leg and stroke through descender.svg
Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Ie.svgЏ̆Ꚅ̆З̀
З̑ԄԆԪCyrillic capital letter Shha with Cil top.svg
І̂І̨Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Dha.svgЈ̵Ј̃К̓
К̀К̆Ӄ̆К̑К̇К̈К̄Ԟ
К̂Cyrillic small letter Ka with loop.svgCyrillic small letter ka with ascender.svgЛ̀ԠԈЛ̑
Л̇ԔМ̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧
Н̃ԊԢН̡Ѻ
Cyrillic capital letter open at bottom O.svgП̓П́П̧
П̑ҀԚ̆Cyrillic capital letter Shha with hook.svgР́Р̀Р̃Ԗ
С̀С̈ԌҪ̓Cyrillic capital letter long Es.svgТ̓Т̀Ԏ
Т̑Т̧Ꚍ̆Cyrillic small letter Te El Soft-sign.svgCyrillic small letter voiceless L with comma above.svgѸ
Cyrillic capital letter script U.svgУ̇У̨Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀
Х̆Х̇Х̧Х̓Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Ha.svgѠѼ
ѾЦ́Ц̓Cyrillic capital letter Tse with long left leg.svgꚎ̆Cyrillic capital letter Cil.svg
Cyrillic capital letter Cil with bar.svgЧ́Ч̀Ч̑Ч̓Cyrillic capital letter Char.svgԬ
Ꚇ̆Ҽ̆Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆
Ꚗ̆Cyrillic capital letter Che Sha.svgЫ̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈
Ѣ̆Э̨Ю̂Я̂Я̨
ԘѤѦѪѨ
ѬѮѰѲѴѶ

Yu or Ju (Ю ю; italics: Ю ю) is a letter of the Cyrillic script used in East Slavic and Bulgarian alphabets.

In English, Yu is commonly romanized as ⟨yu⟩ (or ⟨ju⟩). In turn, ⟨ю⟩ is used, where is available, in transcriptions of English letter u (in open syllables), and also of the ew digraph. The sound [y], like ⟨u⟩ in French and ü in German, may also be approximated by the letter ⟨ю⟩.

Pronunciation

Sometimes, it is referred to as "Iotated O" because it is a so-called iotated vowel, pronounced in isolation as /ju/, like the pronunciation of ⟨u⟩ in "human". After a consonant, no distinct [j] sound is pronounced, but the consonant is softened. The exact pronunciation of the vowel sound of ⟨ю⟩ in Russian depends also on the succeeding sound because of allophony. Before a soft consonant, it is [ʉ], the close central rounded vowel, as in 'rude'. Before a hard consonant or at the end of a word, the result is a back vowel [u], as in "new".

History

Apart from the form I-O, in early Slavonic manuscripts the letter appears also in a mirrored form O-I (Ꙕ, ꙕ).[1] It is the latter form that is probably the original,[citation needed] precisely displaying the Greek combination omicron-iota (οι). At the time that the Greek alphabet was adapted to the Slavonic language giving rise to the Cyrillic alphabet, it denoted the close front rounded vowel /y/ in educated Greek speech. The close front rounded vowel does not appear in East Slavic. See above.

There was another way for it to lead to the modern form. By the analogy to several 'iotated' letters Ѥ, ІА, Ѩ and Ѭ, the ancient ligature (or letter) Uk ⟨оѵ⟩/⟨оу⟩ possibly had its iotated form ⟨іоѵ⟩/⟨іоу⟩.

Also, the iotated big Yus ⟨Ѭ⟩ merged itself to ⟨ю⟩ in East Slavic languages.

Related letters and other similar characters

Computing codes

Character information
Preview Ю ю
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER YU CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER YU
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 1070 U+042E 1102 U+044E
UTF-8 208 174 D0 AE 209 142 D1 8E
Numeric character reference Ю Ю ю ю
Named character reference Ю ю
KOI8-R and KOI8-U 224 E0 192 C0
Code page 855 157 9D 156 9C
Windows-1251 222 DE 254 FE
ISO-8859-5 206 CE 238 EE
Macintosh Cyrillic 158 9E 254 FE

References

  1. ^ Yefim Karskiy (1979) [First published 1928]. Славянская кирилловская палеография [The Slavic Cyrillic paleography] (in Russian) (2nd, facsimile ed.). Nauka. pp. 205–206.