Ь

See also: ь, ъ, and ѣ

Ь U+042C, Ь CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SOFT SIGN ← Ы [U+042B] Cyrillic Э → [U+042D]

Translingual

Letter

Ь (lower case ь)

1. (obsolete) A letter of the Unified Northern Alphabet, Yañalif and similar Latin orthographies, used during the short-lived Soviet Latinization campaign of the 1930s.
   Languages with this letter were Altai (Oyrot), Bashkir, Cherkes, Chukchi, Crimean Tatar, Dungan, Kabardin, Kazakh, Kalmuk, Karakalpak, Karachay, Ket, Khakass, Khanty, Koryak, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Mansi, Nogai, Oyrot, Permiak, Selkup, Tabasaran, Tatar and Turkmen.

User note

Where ⟨Ь, ь⟩ was used in Latin alphabets, small-capital ⟨ʙ⟩ was used as the lower-case form of ⟨B⟩.

In most languages, ⟨Ь, ь⟩ was pronounced [ɨ] or [ɯ], corresponding to Anatolian Turkish ⟨İ⟩. The exception was Kalmuk, where it had its Cyrillic sound value of palatalization.

Bashkir

Letter

Ь • (ʹ) (lower case ь)

1. The thirty-eighth letter of the Bashkir alphabet

See also

• (Cyrillic-script letters) хәреф; А а, Б б, В в, Г г, Ғ ғ, Д д, Ҙ ҙ, Е е, Ё ё, Ж ж, З з, И и, Й й, К к, Ҡ ҡ, Л л, М м, Н н, Ң ң, О о, Ө ө, П п, Р р, С с, Ҫ ҫ, Т т, У у, Ү ү, Ф ф, Х х, Һ һ, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ъ ъ, Ы ы, Ь ь, Э э, Ә ә, Ю ю, Я я

Bulgarian

Pronunciation

• In the digraph ЬО: IPA^(key): [jɔ]

Letter

Ь • (ʹ) (upper case, lower case ь)

1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Bulgarian alphabet, called ер малък (er malǎk), and written in the Cyrillic script.

Usage notes

• This letter is only ever used following a consonant as the digraph ьо (e.g. in шофьор (šofjor)) to denote palatalization. (If a word were in all-caps then the upper case version would be used.)

See also

• (Cyrillic-script letters) А а, Б б, В в, Г г, Д д, Е е, Ж ж, З з, И и (Ѝ ѝ), Й й, К к, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ъ ъ, Ь ь, Ю ю, Я я

Kazakh

Alternative scripts
Arabic	n/a
Cyrillic	Ь
Latin	n/a
Yañalif	Ь

Letter

Ь • () (upper case, lower case ь)

1. The thirth-ninth letter of the Kazakh Cyrillic alphabet

See also

• (Cyrillic-script letters) А а, Ә ә, Б б, В в, Г г, Ғ ғ, Д д, Е е, Ё ё, Ж ж, З з, И и, Й й, К к, Қ қ, Л л, М м, Н н, Ң ң, О о, Ө ө, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Ұ ұ, Ү ү, Ф ф, Х х, Һ һ, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ъ ъ, Ы ы, І і, Ь ь, Э э, Ю ю, Я я

Mongolian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʲ/

Letter

Ь • (ʹ) (upper case, lower case ь) (italics: Ь, ь)

1. The thirty-second letter of the Mongolian alphabet, called зөөлний тэмдэг (zöölnii temdeg), and written in the Cyrillic script.

See also

• (Cyrillic-script letters) үсэг; А а, Б б, В в, Г г, Д д, Е е, Ё ё, Ж ж, З з, И и, Й й, К к, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, Ө ө, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Ү ү, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ъ ъ, Ы ы, Ь ь, Э э, Ю ю, Я я

Russian

Letter

Ь • (ʹ) (upper case, lower case ь)

1. Alternative letter-case form of ь (ʹ).

Usage notes

• Used only when writing in capital letters.

See also

(Cyrillic-script letters) бу́ква; А а, Б б, В в, Г г, Д д, Е е, Ё ё, Ж ж, З з, И и, Й й, К к, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ъ ъ, Ы ы, Ь ь, Э э, Ю ю, Я я

Ukrainian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʲ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Letter

Ь • (ʹ) (upper case, lower case ь)

1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Ukrainian alphabet, called м'який знак (mʺjakyj znak), and written in the Cyrillic script.

See also

• (Cyrillic-script letters) А а, Б б, В в, Г г, Ґ ґ, Д д, Е е, Є є, Ж ж, З з, И и, І і, Ї ї, Й й, К к, Л л, М м, Н н, О о, П п, Р р, С с, Т т, У у, Ф ф, Х х, Ц ц, Ч ч, Ш ш, Щ щ, Ь ь, Ю ю, Я я