E (Е е; italics:
''Е'' ''е''), known in Russian and Belarusian as Ye, Je, or Ie, is a letter of the
Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic, Uralic languages, Uralic, C ...
. In some languages this letter is called E. It commonly represents the vowel or , like the pronunciation of in "yes". It was derived from the
Greek letter epsilon (Ε ε), and the shape is very similar to the
Latin letter E or another version of
E (Cyrillic)
E (Э э; italics: ''Э э''; also known as backwards ye, from Russian , ''ye oborótnoye'', ) is a letter found in three Slavic languages: Russian, Belarusian, and West Polesian. It represents the vowels and , as the e in the wo ...
.
Ye is romanized using the
Latin letter E for Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Ukrainian and Rusyn, and occasionally Russian (Озеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal), Je for Belarusian (Заслаўе, Zaslaŭje), Ye for Russian (Европа, Yevropa), and Ie occasionally for Russian (Днепр, Dniepr) and Belarusian (Маладзе́чна, Maladziečna).
Usage
Russian and Belarusian
*At the beginning of a word or after a vowel, Ye represents the phonemic combination (phonetically or ), like the pronunciation of in "yes". Ukrainian uses the letter (see
Ukrainian Ye
Ukrainian Ye or Round Ye (Є є; italics: ) is a character of the Cyrillic script. It is a separate letter in the Ukrainian alphabet, the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet, and both the Carpathian Rusyn alphabets; in all of these, it comes directly ...
) in this way.
*Following a consonant, Ye indicates that the consonant is
palatalized, and represents the vowel (phonetically or ), like the pronunciation of in "yes".
In Russian, the letter can follow unpalatalized consonants, especially , , and . In some loanwords, other consonants before (especially , , , , , and ) are also not palatalized, see
E (Cyrillic)
E (Э э; italics: ''Э э''; also known as backwards ye, from Russian , ''ye oborótnoye'', ) is a letter found in three Slavic languages: Russian, Belarusian, and West Polesian. It represents the vowels and , as the e in the wo ...
. The letter also represents (as in "yogurt") and after palatalized consonants, , and . In these cases, may be used, see
Yo (Cyrillic)
Yo, Jo, or, Io (Ё ё; italics: ''Ё'' ''ё''; ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Unicode, the letter is named CYRILLIC CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER IO.
In English, the letter Yo is romanized using the Latin ''ë'' (according to t ...
. In unstressed syllables, represents reduced vowels like , see
Russian phonology
This article discusses the phonology, phonological system of standard language, standard Russian language, Russian based on the Moscow dialect (unless otherwise noted). For an overview of dialects in the Russian language, see Russian dialects. Mo ...
and
Vowel reduction in Russian
In the pronunciation of the Russian language, several ways of vowel reduction (and its absence) are distinguished between the standard language and dialects. Russian orthography most often does not reflect vowel reduction, which can confuse for ...
.
Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Ukrainian and Rusyn
This letter is called E, and represents the vowel phoneme (phonetically or ), like the pronunciation of in the word "set".
Mongolian
The letter represents the sound at the beginning of words (
yo represents ), and also represents at the beginning of some words and in the middle or end of words and in Russian loanwords and transcriptions of foreign names.
Turkic languages and Tajik
In Turkic languages utilizing the Cyrillic script (such as
Kazakh,
Kyrgyz and
Uzbek) and in
Tajik, Ye is used to represent the phoneme ~, both word-finally and medially. Isolated, word-initially, or vowel-succeeding, this letter is substituted with the letter
Э. If the letter Ye occurs word-initially, isolated, or vowel-succeeding, it represents the phoneme /je/~/jɛ/. This is done in imitation of the Russian usage, as many of these languages received Cyrillic orthographies as part of
Russification in the Soviet Union.
Related letters and other similar characters
* the Latin letter
E
* the Latin letter
É
* the Greek letter
Ε
*
Ukrainian Ye
Ukrainian Ye or Round Ye (Є є; italics: ) is a character of the Cyrillic script. It is a separate letter in the Ukrainian alphabet, the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet, and both the Carpathian Rusyn alphabets; in all of these, it comes directly ...
Computing codes
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Cyrillic letters
Vowel letters