{{Short description|Letter of the Cyrillic script}} {{distinguish | text=the Latin letter y̆}} {{for|the English vowel|Vowel length#In English}} {{Redirect|W (Cyrillic)|the Cyrillic letter Ԝ|We (Cyrillic)}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2007}} {{Infobox grapheme | script = Cyrillic | type = Alphabet | typedesc = ic | name = Short U | image = Cyrillic letter short U - uppercase and lowercase.svg | imagealt = | phonemes = {{IPAblink|w}}<br>{{IPAblink|o}} (Uzbek) | number = | fam1 = | letter = Ў ў | unicode = U+040E }}

'''Short U''' (Ў&nbsp;ў; italics: <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">''Ў&nbsp;ў''</span>) or '''U with breve''' is a letter of the Cyrillic script. The only Slavic language using the letter in its orthography is Belarusian, but it is also used as a phonetic symbol in some Russian and Ukrainian dictionaries.<ref>''Большой орфоэпический словарь русского языка'' (2018)</ref> Among the non-Slavic languages using Cyrillic alphabets, ў is used in Dungan, Karakalpak, Karachay-Balkar, Mansi, Sakhalin Nivkh, Ossetian and Siberian Yupik. It is also used in Uzbek &ndash; this letter corresponds to Oʻ in the Uzbek Latin alphabet.

==History== The letter originates from the letter izhitsa {{angle bracket|Ѵ&nbsp;ѵ}} with a breve ({{Lang|uk|Іереѵ̆ская власть, пучина Егеѵ̆ская}}, etc.) used in certain Ukrainian books at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries.{{Citation needed|date=July 2007}} Later, this character was probably in use in the Romanian Cyrillic script, from where it was borrowed in 1836 by the compilers of Ukrainian poetry book ''Rusalka Dnistrovaja'' ({{lang|uk|Русалка днѣстровая}}). The book's foreword reads “we have accepted Serbian џ … and Wallachian [Romanian] ''ў'' …”.<ref>“...приймилисмо сербскоє ''џ'' (виџу {{IPA|wydzu}}) и волоскоє ''ў'' (''аў'', {{IPA|ɑʋ}} ''Erazm. Rotterd.,'' {{script|Latf|𝖆𝖚}}, ''еў'', {{IPA|ɛʋ}}: спѣваў, {{IPA|spiwɑʋ}}; душеў, {{IPA|duʃɛʋ}})...”. Markiyan Shashkevych (1837), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=irBGAAAAMAAJ Rusalka Dnistrovaya]'' (''Mermaid of the Dniester''), p V.</ref> In this book, {{angle bracket|ў}} is used mostly for etymological [l] transformed to [w]. Modern Ukrainian spelling uses {{angle bracket|в}} (''v'') in that position.

For Belarusian, the combination of the Cyrillic letter U with a breve {{angle bracket|ў}} was proposed by P.A. Bessonov in 1870.<ref>Булыка (Bulyka). У нескладовае // Энцыклапедыя літаратуры і мастацтва Беларусі. Т.4. p.377.</ref> Before that, various ad hoc adaptations of the Latin U were used, for example, italicized in some publications of Vintsent Dunin-Martsinkyevich, with acute accent {{angle bracket|ú}} in Jan Czeczot's ''Da milykh mužyczkoú'' (''To dear peasants'', 1846 edition), W with breve {{angle bracket|w̆}} in Epimakh-Shypila, 1889, or just the letter {{angle bracket|u}} itself (like in publications of Konstanty Kalinowski, 1862–1863). A U with haček {{angle bracket|ǔ}} was also used.<ref name=Bulyka>Per (Bulyka).</ref>

After 1870, both the distinction for the phoneme and the new shape of the letter still were not consistently used until the mid-1900s for technical problems, per Bulyka. Among the first publications using it were folklore collections published by Michał Federowski and the first edition of Francišak Bahuševič's ''Dudka Biełaruskaja'' (''Belarusian flute'', published in Kraków, 1891).<ref name=Bulyka/> For quite a while other kinds of renderings (plain {{angle bracket|u}}, or with added accent, haček, or caret) were still being used, sometimes within a single publication (Bahushevich, 1891, Pachobka, 1915), also supposedly because of technical problems.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

==Usage==

===Belarusian=== The letter is called ''non-syllabic u'' or ''short u'' ({{langx|be|у нескладовае|u nyeskladovaye}}<ref name=pravapis>*Bušlakoŭ, Juraś, Vincuk Viačorka, Źmicier Sańko, Źmicier Saŭka. 2005. [http://knihi.com/storage/pravapis2005.html ''Klasyčny pravapis. Zbor praviłaŭ: Sučasnaja narmalizacyja''] [Classical orthography. Set of rules: Contemporary normalization]. ([http://archive.svaboda.org/info/pravapis2005.pdf PDF].) Vilnia—Miensk: Audra.</ref> or у кароткае, ''u karotkaye'') in Belarusian because although it resembles the vowel у (''u''), it does not form syllables.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pravilna.by/rules/10/#p3|title=Зычныя літары|publisher=Праект “Правільна!" (Project Pravilna)|access-date=25 March 2022}}</ref> Its equivalent in the Belarusian Latin alphabet is {{angle bracket|ŭ}},<ref>Б. Тарашкевіч. Беларуская граматыка для школ. – Вільня : Беларуская друкарня ім. Фр. Скарыны, 1929 ; Мн. : «Народная асвета», 1991 [факсімільн.]. – Выданьне пятае пераробленае і пашыранае.</ref> although it is also sometimes transcribed as {{angle bracket|w}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://geonames.nga.mil/gns/html/romanization.html|title=Romanization Systems Currently Approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN)|publisher=National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency|access-date=5 April 2017}}</ref>

In native Belarusian words, {{angle bracket|ў}} is used after vowels and represents a {{IPA|[w]}},<ref>E.g., per ''Беларуская мова: Вучэб. дапам. / Э. Д. Блінава, Н. В. Гаўрош, М. Ц. Кавалёва і інш.; Пад рэд. М. С. Яўневіча. — Мн. : Выш. школа, 1991. {{ISBN|5-339-00539-9}}.''</ref> as in хлеў, pronounced {{IPA|be|xlʲew|}} (''chleŭ'', ‘shed’) or воўк {{IPA|[vɔwk]}} (''voŭk'', ‘wolf’). This is similar to the {{angle bracket|w}} in English ''cow'' {{IPA|/kaʊ/}}.

The letter {{angle bracket|ў}} cannot occur before a non-iotated vowel in native words (except compound words such as паўакна, ‘half a window’); when that would be required by grammar, {{angle bracket|ў}} is replaced by {{angle bracket|в}} {{IPA|/v/}}. Compare хлеў ({{IPA|be|xlʲew|}} ''chleŭ'', ‘shed’) with за хлявом ({{IPA|[za xlʲaˈvom]}} ''za chlavóm'', ‘behind the shed’). Also, when a word starts with an unstressed {{angle bracket|у}} {{IPA|/u/}} and follows a word that ends in a vowel, it forms a diphthong through liaison and it is written with {{angle bracket|ў}} instead. For example, у хляве ({{IPA|[u xlʲaˈvʲe]}} ''u chlavié'', ‘in the shed’) but увайшлі яны ў хлеў ({{IPA|[uvajʂˈlʲi jaˈnɨ w xlʲew]}} ''uvajšlí janý ŭ chleŭ'', ‘they went into the shed’).<ref name=pravapis/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vitba.org/fofmb/chapter1.html|title=Chapter 1: Spelling Rules}}</ref> According to the current official orthographic rules of 2008,<ref name=pravapis2008>{{Cite web |url=http://libelli.narod.ru/misc/rules.htm |title=Правілы беларускай арфаграфіі і пунктуацыі. Мінск, 2008.}}</ref> proper names conserve the initial {{angle bracket|У}} in writing, so the capital letter {{angle bracket|Ў}} can occur only in all-capitals writing. Previous official orthographic rules (1959) also made exception for loanwords (каля універсітэта, ‘near the university’, now spelled каля ўніверсітэта).<ref name=pravapis1959>Правілы беларускай арфаграфіі і пунктуацыі. Выдавецтва Акадэміі Наук БССР, Мінск, 1959.</ref> The unofficial 2005 standardization of Taraškievica allows the capital {{angle bracket|Ў}} in proper names.<ref name=pravapis/> In acronyms/initialisms, the word-initial {{angle bracket|ў}} becomes {{angle bracket|У}}: ВНУ for вышэйшая навучальная ўстанова ‘higher education institution (university, college, institute)’.<ref name=pravapis/><ref name=pravapis2008/><ref name=pravapis1959/> Also, {{angle bracket|Ў}} becomes {{angle bracket|У}} in name initials in Taraškievica.<ref name=pravapis/>

The letter {{angle bracket|ў}} is also sometimes used to represent the labial-velar approximant {{IPA|/w/}} in foreign loanwords: this usage is allowed by the 2005 standardization of Taraškievica. When it is used thus it can appear before non-iotated vowels, does not require a preceding vowel, and may be capital.<ref name=pravapis/>

In poetry, word-initial {{angle bracket|у}} and {{angle bracket|ў}} are sometimes used according to the rhythm of a poem. In this case, the capital {{angle bracket|Ў}} may also occur.<ref name=pravapis1959/>

===Uzbek=== This letter is the 32nd letter of the Uzbek Cyrillic alphabet as it is a letter of its own and not a variant of ⟨у⟩. It corresponds to Oʻ in the current Uzbek alphabet. It is different from the regular O, which is represented by the Cyrillic letter О. Furthermore, it represents {{IPA|/o/}}, which is pronounced as either {{IPA|[o]}} or {{IPA|[ɵ]}}, in contrast to the letter O, which represents {{IPA|/ɒ/}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Transliteration of Non-Roman Scripts: Uzbek|url=http://transliteration.eki.ee/pdf/Uzbek.pdf|work=Institute of the Estonian Language|access-date=12 November 2015}}</ref>

=== Karakalpak === The letter is the 26th letter in the Karakalpak alphabet.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://linguapedia.info/languages/karakalpak.html|title=Каракалпакский язык|date=13 November 2015 |publisher=Linguapedia.info|language=ru}}</ref> It corresponds to the sound /w/ and the Latin letter W.

==In culture==

In September 2003, during the tenth Days of Belarusian Literacy celebrations, the authorities in Polatsk, the oldest Belarusian city, made a monument to honor the unique Cyrillic Belarusian letter {{angle bracket|ў}}. The original idea for the monument came from professor Paval Siemčanka, a scholar of Cyrillic calligraphy and type.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Памятник букве "Ў" в Полоцке|url=https://www.holiday.by/by/skarb/821-pamjatnik-bukve-v-polocke|access-date=2022-02-03|website=www.holiday.by|language=ru}}</ref>

The letter {{angle bracket|ў}} is also the namesake of Ў gallery, an art gallery in Minsk between 2009 and 2020.

{{anchor|Encodings}}

==Computing codes==

{{charmap |040E|name1=Cyrillic Capital Letter<br />Short U |045E|name2=Cyrillic Small Letter<br />Short U |map2=Code page 855 |map2char1=99 |map2char2=98 |map3=Code page 866 |map3char1=F6 |map3char2=F7 |map4=Windows-1251 |map4char1=A1 |map4char2=A2 |map5=ISO-8859-5 |map5char1=AE |map5char2=FE |map6=Macintosh Cyrillic<ref>[https://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/CYRILLIC.TXT Unicode.org: CYRILLIC.TXT]</ref> |map6char1=D8 |map6char2=D9 }}

==See also== *Breve *Й й : Short I *Ł ł : Latin letter L with stroke *Oʻ oʻ : Latin letter Oʻ, used in Uzbek *Ŭ ŭ : Latin letter Ŭ, used in Esperanto *W w : Latin letter W *Ԝ ԝ : Cyrillic letter Ԝe *В̌ в̌ : Cyrillic letter Ve with caron

==Notes== <references/>

==External links== *{{Wiktionary-inline|Ў}} *{{Wiktionary-inline|ў}}

{{Cyrillic navbox}}

Category:Cyrillic letters U