Cyrillic - The Russian Alphabet

Русский алфавит

In Russia and many surrounding countries, the alphabet is in a different form than we use called Cyrillic (suh-real-ick). Almost 250 million people use a Cyrillic alphabet with the majority of them living in Russia. The Cyrillic alphabet was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire around the 9th century. It is named Cyrillic in honor of St. Cyril, a Byzantine Christian missionary who taught the Slavic people about Jesus. The Cyrillic alphabet was developed in a literary school in Bulgaria. From there, it spread with missionaries throughout many countries. Various versions of the language spread throughout the region. These versions continued to change and develop over the centuries. Now, Cyrillic alphabets are used in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Serbia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria, among others. Certain native tribes in Alaska (a former territory of the Russian Empire), such as the Yupik, Aleut, and Tlingit, use a form of Cyrillic.

The modern Cyrillic alphabet uses a variety of letters, some look like letters from the western alphabet such as A, J, K, and O. Some letters look similar but have different sounds, such as H which sounds like N, C which sounds like S, and P which sounds like R. Some look like Greek letters such as Γ, gamma in Greek and G in Cyrillic, or φ, phi in Greek and F in Russian. Other letters look completely different, Ж which makes a “zhe” sound, Ц which is “tse,” and Яwhich sounds like “ya.”

Here is what a few things look like in Cyrillic.

•   Prokofiev - Прокофьев

•   Peter and the Wolf - Петя и Bолк

•   Russia - Россия

•   Skagit Symphony - Скаджит симфония

Try out this website and see what your name looks like in Cyrillic!