When you see words written in the Cyrillic Alphabet, the Russian language is probably the first thing that comes to your mind. That makes sense, because after all, Russian by far the most widely-spoken language that uses the Cyrillic Alphabet. But the Cyrillic Alphabet goes far beyond Russian language and culture. In fact, you’ll find it across a large swath of Europe and Asia. From Serbia and Montenegro to Ukraine in the west, and Tajikistan to Mongolia in the east, the Cyrillic Alphabet covers a vast expanse of the Slavic world.
A Brief History of the Cyrillic Alphabet
The Cyrillic Alphabet is actually one of the newer alphabets in the world today. It was developed in the 9th century during the First Bulgarian Empire. In contrast, we first saw the Latin Alphabet in the 7th Century BC, about 1,500 years earlier. While the Cyrillic Alphabet is named after Saint Cyril, historians continue to hotly debate whether Cyril himself or one of his students actually invented it.
Today, the Cyrillic Alphabet remains prevalent across the Slavic world. From central Europe to central Asia, you’ll find the Cyrillic states stretching from the Balkan states in Europe all the way to Mongolia. Not surprisingly, most Asian nations that use the Cyrillic Alphabet are former Soviet Union members.
Look to the Cyrillic Alphabet to Explain the Pull Between Russia and the West
Long before the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out, you could clearly see the tug between Russia and the west in eastern Europe. Just look at the languages of the Slavic nations in eastern Europe. Poland is the perfect example. Mieszko I, who ruled the Polans tribe during the 10th Century, created the Polish language specifically for the Cyrillic Alphabet. Unfortunately for him, most Poles were converting to Catholicism, while the Orthodox Church was responsible for spreading the Cyrillic Alphabet. As a result, the Polish Language adopted the Latin alphabet used in the Catholic Church instead.
In 1772, the Russian Empire seized about 80% of Poland-Lithuania, which encompassed much of what is today the Baltic States, Belarus, Poland, and Ukraine. Over the next 40-plus years, the Russians introduced a Polish Cyrillic, and relentlessly tried to “Cyrillify” Poland. The Catholics fiercely resisted because they did not want to convert to the Orthodox Church. As a result, the only way the Russians succeeded in introducing the Cyrillic Alphabet to Poland was to introduce the Russian language. In the 1970’s, the Soviet Union tried once more to get Poland to adopt the Cyrillic alphabet, but was again unsuccessful.
To this day, Polish remains one of the few Slavic Languages that never adopted the Cyrillic Alphabet. And geography continues to play a major role in that. On one hand, as a member of both NATO and the European Union, Poland’s strong ties to the west are undeniable. But on the other hand, it’s hard to not look east from a linguistics perspective. Would Polish be any easier or any better off using the Cyrillic Alphabet? The two are a seemingly perfect match, after all. But that’s for the historians and language scholars to debate.
The Cyrillic Alphabet’s Roots Lie in Greece
While Greece has never used it, that’s where you’ll find the Cyrillic Alphabet’s deep roots. The Cyrillic Alphabet solved numerous linguistics issues for the Slavic people living in central and eastern Europe between the 5th and 9th Centuries. At the time, they used the Greek alphabet, which presented one major problem. There were numerous phonetics – both written and oral – in Slavic languages that don’t exist in the Greek Alphabet. As a result, the Cyrillic Alphabet is essentially just the Greek Alphabet with a few added letters to cover those missing Slavic phonetics. Can you spot the similarities?
When I first learned the Cyrillic Alphabet, I had a deep knowledge of the Greek Alphabet, from both my background in mathematics and taking a year of Ancient Greek. If you already know the Greek Alphabet, learning Cyrillic is very easy. If you want to learn the Cyrillic Alphabet, I highly recommend learning the Greek Alphabet first. However, I must note that while I know the Cyrillic alphabet, I claim no knowledge of anything more than just the basics of any language that actually uses it.
Cyrillic Letters Derived Directly from the Greek Alphabet
| Name | Greek Letter | Cyrillic Letter | Latin Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Α α | А а | A a |
| Beta | Β β | Б б | B b |
| Gamma | Γ γ | Г г | G g |
| Delta | Δ δ | Д д | D d |
| Epsilon | Ε ε | Е е | E e |
| Zeta | Ζ ζ | З з | Z z |
| Eta | Η η | No Longer Used | H h |
| Theta | Θ θ | None | TH / th |
| Iota | Ι ι | И и | I i |
| Kappa | Κ κ | К к | K k |
| Lambda | Λ λ | Л л | L l |
| Mu | Μ μ | М м | M m |
| Nu | Ν ν | Н н | N n |
| Xi | Ξ ξ | No Longer Used | KS / ks |
| Omicron | Ο ο | О о | O o |
| Pi | Π π | П п | P p |
| Rho | Ρ ρ | Р р | R r |
| Sigma | Σ σ | С с | S s |
| Tau | Τ τ | Т т | T t |
| Upsilon | Υ υ | У у | U u |
| Phi | Φ φ | Ф ф | F f |
| Chi | Χ χ | Х х | KH / kh |
| Psi | Ψ ψ | No Longer Used | PS / ps |
| Omega | Ω ω | No Longer Used | AW / aw |
A Strategy for Learning the Cyrillic Alphabet
If you’re interested in learning the Cyrillic Alphabet, you should break it down into four steps. The first two are easy, but the second two are more of a challenge. Don’t fret, though. The Cyrillic Alphabet itself is very easy to learn. The languages that use it? Well, that’s a whole. different story.
First, start with the Cyrillic letters that both look and sound the same as their counterparts in the Latin Alphabet and in English. Then, learn the Cyrillic letters that are directly imported from the Greek Alphabet.
| Category | Cyrillic Letters |
|---|---|
| Look and Sound the Same as English | а, е, о, м, т, к |
| Imported Directly from Greek | г, х, ф, п, р, л, з, б |
Now that you have a base established, then you can jump into the trickier letters. We’ll start with the letters that look like Latin letters, bur are not. When I first learned the Cyrillic Alphabet, I kept wanting to pronounce these like their Latin counterparts. Once you can break through that barrier, you’re pretty much there.
| Cyrillic Letter | Latin Equivalent Letter or Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| У у | The letter “U”. Pronounced like the U in Ukraine |
| Н н | The letter “N” |
| В в | The letter “V” |
| Я я | Makes a “ya” sound, like “yard” or the Spanish word “playa” |
| С с | The letter “S” |
| И и | The letter “i”. Pronounced “ee” like tree or “i” like sit. |
| Ь ь | Soft sign. Written after a consonant and indicates a softening or palatalization of that consonant. |
The Trickier Letters of the Cyrillic Alphabet
Finally, finish up with the Cyrillic letters that were added for Slavic phonetics. Hopefully these letters won’t be too hard to learn, as they bear little to no resemblance to anything in either the Greek or Latin alphabets.
| Cyrillic Letter | Latin Equivalent or Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| Й й | The letter “Y”. Pronounced like the Y in boy |
| Ц ц | Makes a “TS” sound, like the words tsar or bits |
| Ш ш | Makes a hard “SH” sound, like in shrimp or push |
| Щ щ | Makes a softer “SH” or “SCH” sound, like shoes or Schengen |
| Ы ы | No English equivalent. Falls right between the “ee” of feet and the “oo” of boot |
| Ж ж | A “ZH” sound that’s a cross between Z and J, such as pleasure or measure. Pronounced the same way as the “zh” in Guangzhou or Shenzhen. |
| Э э | Makes a short “e” sound, like in bet, pen, or edit |
| Ч ч | Makes a “CH” sound, like the word church |
| Ю ю | Pronounced the same way as the english word “you” |
Most Slavic Languages Add Their Own Letters to the Cyrillic Alphabet
One of the most fascinating aspects of the Cyrillic Alphabet is that it leaves room for each language to add its own letters. There is really no equivalent to that in any languages that use the Latin Alphabet. The closest thing any western language has to that is the Spanish enye (ñ) or the French cédille (ç). But the Slavic languages take it so much further with the Cyrillic alphabet. Believe it or not, some languages have added 10 or more letters to the Cyrillic alphabet.
The geography of the Slavic languages is absolutely fascinating. The Central Asian nations, all of whom are former Soviet Union states, have added the most letters to the Cyrillic alphabet. Even the more traditionally Cyrillic languages, including Russian and Ukrainian, have added their own letters. This not only adapts the Cyrillic alphabet to better fit their own native languages, it also helps each nation distance itself from Russia and its Soviet past.
Some nations have even gone as far as converting their language from the Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan all reverted back to the Latin alphabet as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan also announced recently that they would begin transitioning from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet starting in 2023.
It’s Incredibly Difficult for Former USSR States to Completely Abandon the Cyrillic Alphabet
This is where it gets complicated. Unfortunately, many former Soviet states have found that they can’t sever those ties completely. Why is that? Nearly every nation that made up the former Soviet Union has retained Russian (the official language of the USSR) as either an official or unofficial language. And that includes Ukraine.
Part of what is driving the war between Russia and Ukraine is Russia’s insistence that Ukraine adopt the Russian language. And while it’s easy to say, oh, Ukraine is its own sovereign nation, they should just tell Russia to piss off, it’s far more complicated than that. And it all ties back to the former Soviet Union. Because Russian was the official language of the USSR, nearly one third of Ukraine’s population speaks Russian as their native language. You can’t just alientate 1/3 of your own citizens.
So why is Russia so mad at Ukraine they decided to induce such a horrific war? Part of it is because other than the three Baltic States and Azerbaijan, Ukraine is the only former Soviet Union member that does not use Russian as one of their official languages. Have a look at these language statistics from Ukraine, broken down by oblast (their equivalent of states and provinces). Can you see a correlation between use of the Russian language and where the heaviest of the fighting is taking place?
| Ukrainian Oblast | Percent of Population that Speaks Russian |
|---|---|
| Autonomous Republic of Crimea | 97% |
| Donetsk | 93% |
| Luhansk | 89% |
| Odessa | 85% |
| Zaporizhia | 81% |
| Kharkiv | 74% |
| Dnipropetrovsk | 72% |
| Mykolaiv | 66% |
Kyiv or Kiev: Why There is So Much Debate About the Spelling of the Ukrainian Capital
If you’ve watched the news recently, you’ve probably heard the debates over how the name of Ukraine’s capital is both spelled and pronounced. Is it spelled Kyiv or Kiev? As for which one is correct, well, it depends who you ask. Kyiv is the transliteration of the Ukrainian language spelling, while Kiev is the transliteration of the Russian language spelling. While Kiev was the official spelling during the Soviet Union, the United States adopted Kyiv as the official and preferred spelling in 2006. They actually retired Kiev as an alternate spelling in 2019 in an effort to persuade western media to use the Ukrainian spelling.
| Language | Cyrillic Spelling | Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Ukrainian | Київ | Kyiv |
| Russian | Киев | Kiev |
Interestingly, from a strictly nuts and bolts perspective, the spelling difference is no different than comparing the spellings of any location in any two languages. It gets complicated and becomes a hot-button issue once you take into account the history, politics, and culture of Russia and Ukraine. Without those aspects, it would be no different than doing this.
| English Name | French Spelling | Spanish Spelling |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | Méxique | México |
| Germany | Allemagne | Alemania |
| Thailand | Thaïlande | Tailandia |
| Switzerland | Suisse | Suiza |
| Italy | Italie | Italia |
What About the Ukrainian President’s Name? How Do You Correctly Spell It?
Is it Zelenskyy, Zelensky, or Zelenskiy? You’ve probably seen it spelled all three ways on the news. To understand the correct spelling, we must look again to the Cyrillic alphabet and the long history between Ukraine and Russia. In Ukrainian, he spells his name Володомир Зеленський.
It turns out that when you use the Cyrillic alphabet, his name is spelled nearly identically in Russian (Володомир Зеленский) as it is in Ukrainian. So how does that help us in the Latin alphabet? You have to look at how the Cyrillic alphabet is transliterated in Russian vs Ukrainian. More specifically, the last two letters of his name. In Ukrainian, while и and й are pronounced differently, they both transliterate to the letter “y”. On the other hand, in Russian, и transliterates to the letter “i” and й transliterates to the letter “y”. So just like Kyiv, this once again boils down to the Russian vs Ukrainian spellings.
| Language | Cyrillic Spelling | Latin Transliteration |
|---|---|---|
| Ukrainian | Зеленський | Zelenskyy |
| Russian | Зеленский | Zelenskiy |
So what’s the verdict? According to the man himself, the Ukrainian spelling (Zelenskyy) is the correct one. And the third spelling? Zelensky is simply an anglicized version of the Ukrainian spelling, as the double-y does not exist in English.
Zelenskyy’s History Doesn’t End There
Because Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union during Zelenskyy’s childhood, he actually grew up speaking Russian, not Ukrainian. In fact, he used the Russian spelling of his own name (Zelenskiy) up until 2018. And why is that timing relevant? Because he became president of Ukraine in 2019. That’s just more proof that the long, intertwined history between Russia and Ukraine runs deeper than we can imagine. It took becoming president of Ukraine for Zelenskyy to finally distance himself from Russia.
Learn to Read the Cyrillic Alphabet with Geographic Names
Once you get a basic grasp of the Cyrillic alphabet, it’s time to build on that knowledge and get comfortable reading the Cyrillic alphabet. I find the best way to do that is to remove any aspect of having to bounce back and forth between languages and focus only on the transliteration. For that, we’ll look at the names of places, which we’ll transliterate directly from English.
We’ll start with the easy ones, where all letters except for one or two match the Latin alphabet. Cover up the right hand column and see if you can correctly identify each location. These are all major cities and states in the US and Canada.
The Easy Ones
| Cyrillic Transliteration | English Name |
|---|---|
| Тампа | Tampa |
| Алабама | Alabama |
| Бостон | Boston |
| Техас | Texas |
| Атланта | Atlanta |
| Торонто | Toronto |
| Монтана | Montana |
| Такома | Tacoma |
| Омаха | Omaha |
| Манитоба | Manitoba |
The Medium Ones
Now that you’ve mastered the easy ones, let’s up the difficulty. These will be a little more complex, but you should still be able to figure them out from looking at them.
| Cyrillic Transliteration | English Name |
|---|---|
| Даллас | Dallas |
| Детройт | Detroit |
| Оклахома | Oklahoma |
| Сакраменто | Sacramento |
| Лас Вегас | Las Vegas |
| Бойсе | Boise |
| Орегон | Oregon |
| Аризона | Arizona |
| Небраска | Nebraska |
| Миннесота | Minnesota |
| Канзас | Kansas |
| Буффало | Buffalo |
| Вермонт | Vermont |
| Балтимор | Baltimore |
| Едмонтон | Edmonton |
The Hard Ones
Now, it’s time for a challenge. The places have short names, but don’t look anything like their Latin counterparts. Remember, these are all names of states and major cities in the United States. If you’re struggling, start by focusing on letters you know.
| Cyrillic Transliteration | English Name |
|---|---|
| Денвер | Denver |
| Чикаго | Chicago |
| Айова | Iowa |
| Ныю Йорк | New York |
| Майами | Miami |
| Луизиана | Louisiana |
| Хыюстон | Houston |
| Милуоки | Milwaukee |
| Финикс | Phoenix |
| Мэн | Maine |
| Миссури | Missouri |
| Огайо | Ohio |
| Аляска | Alaska |
| Айдахо | Idaho |
| Питтсбург | Pittsburgh |
| Кливленд | Cleveland |
| Массачусетс | Massachusetts |
The Extreme Ones
The ultimate challenge. These are places with long names whose Cyrillic transliterations look nothing like their English names. However, I’ll give you a hint. The last one is a major city in western Canada. The rest are all states and major cities in the United States.
| Cyrillic Transliteration | English Name |
|---|---|
| Лос Анджелес | Los Angeles |
| Сан Франциско | San Francisco |
| Калифорния | California |
| Пенсильвания | Pennsylvania |
| Филаделфия | Philadelphia |
| Индианаполис | Indianapolis |
| Миннеаполис | Minneapolis |
| Миссиссипи | Mississippi |
| Джорджия | Georgia |
| Провиденс | Providence |
| Висконсин | Wisconsin |
| Вашингтон | Washington |
| Цинциннати | Cincinnati |
| Ванкувер | Vancouver |
Conclusion
The Cyrillic alphabet offers a fascinating, but powerful glance into the history of Ukraine, Russia, and the rest of the Slavic world. For Russia and Ukraine, it is the thread that ties their long, storied, and even twisted histories together. Yet paradoxically, it causes rifts and divisions that run deep enough to kick off the most brutal and horrific war Europe has seen since World War II.
I’ve always said that the more we understand about each other, the more accepting we’ll be of opposing viewpoints. Hopefully, this introduction to the Cyrillic alphabet has given at least enough of a glance into the history and culture of not just Russia and Ukraine, but the entire Slavic world. Because the history and culture of this region is fascinating. It would be such a shame to ruin it with disinformation. Слава Україні.