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Cyrillic letter Yu
Phonetic usage:[ju]
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̄Е̂ЁЄЄ́ЖЗЗ́
ЅИІІ́ЇЇ́И́
ЍИ̂ӢЙЈКЛЉ
МНЊОО́О̀О̂Ō
ӦПРСС́ТЋЌ
УУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́Ю
Ю́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈ҔҒӺҒ̌Ӷ
Д́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆ӖЕ̃
Ё̄Є̈ҖӜӁЖ̣ҘӞ
З̌З̣З̆ԐԐ̈ӠИ̃Ӥ
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣Ԛ
Л́ӅԮԒЛ̈ӍН́
ӉҢԨӇҤО̆О̃Ӧ̄
ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆ӪԤҦП̈
Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈
Т̌Т̇Т̣ҬУ̃ӲУ̊
Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑
Х̌ҲӼӾҺԦЦ̌Ц̈
ҴҶҶ̣ӴӋҸЧ̇
Ч̣ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆Ы̄
ӸҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇Ӭ
Ӭ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄Я̆Я̄
Я̈Я̈́Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆԪ
І̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆К̑
К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂Л̀
ԠԈЛ̑Л̇ԔМ̀М̃
Н̀Н̄Н̧Н̃ԊԢН̡
Ѻ
П̓П̀П́П̧П̑ҀԚ̆
Р́Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈Ԍ
Ҫ̓Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧
Ꚍ̆ѸУ̇
У̨Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇Х̧
Х̓ѠѼѾЦ̀
Ц́Ц̓Ꚏ̆
Ч́Ч̀Ч̑Ч̓Ԭ
Ꚇ̆Ҽ̆Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆
Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂Я̂Я̨Ԙ
ѤѦѪѨѬ
ѮѰѲѴѶ
Yu, from the Alphabet Book оf the Red Army Soldier (1921)

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, , Ѩ and Ѭ.

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.