{{Short description|Cyrillic letter}} {{redirect|Y (Cyrillic)|the cyrillic character У (lowercase: у)|U (Cyrillic)|the cyrillic character Ү (lowercase: ү)|Ue (Cyrillic)}} {{Expand Russian|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox grapheme | script = Cyrillic | type = Alphabet | typedesc = ic | name = Yery | image = Cyrillic letter Yery - uppercase and lowercase.svg | imageclass = skin-invert-image | imagealt = | phonemes = [{{IPA link|ɨ}}]<br />[{{IPA link|ɯ}}]<br />[{{IPA link|ə}}]<br />[{{IPA link|ɤ}}] | number = | fam1 = | equivalents = Y y | letter = Ы ы | language = Old Church Slavonic | unicode = U+042B, U+044B, U+A650, U+A651 | variations = Ꙑ ꙑ }}
[[File:Karion Istomin's alphabet Yery.jpg|thumb|''Yery'', from Karion Istomin's 1694 alphabet book]] '''Yeru''' or '''Eru''' (Ы ы; italics: ''Ы ы'' or <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">Ы ы</span>; italics: <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">''Ы ы''</span>), usually called '''Y''' {{IPA|ru|ɨ|}} in modern Russian or '''Yery''' or '''Ery''' historically and in modern Church Slavonic, is a letter in the Cyrillic script. It represents the close central unrounded vowel {{IPA|/ɨ/}} (more rear or upper than i) after non-palatalised (hard) consonants in the Belarusian and Russian alphabets.
The letter is usually romanised {{angbr|y}}, such that the family name {{lang|ru|Крылов}} is usually written Krylov in English and most other West European languages. That spelling matches the Latin alphabet used for Polish, whose letter {{angbr|y}} represents the same sound. Similarly, {{angbr|ы}} is used for {{angbr|y}} in the cyrillisation of Polish, such that the name {{lang|pl|Maryla}} appears as {{lang|ru|Марыля}} in Russian. Note, however, that the letter {{angbr|y}} also appears in romanisation of other Russian letters both in isolation (such as {{angbr|й}}, {{translit|ru|y}}) and as part of digraphs (such as {{angbr|я}}, {{translit|ru|ya}}).
In Rusyn, {{Angbr|ы}} represents the close-mid back unrounded vowel {{IPA|/ɤ/}}. In most Turkic languages that use Cyrillic, such as Kazakh and Kyrgyz, {{Angbr|ы}} is used to represent the close back unrounded vowel /ɯ/ instead.
==Origin== thumb|The letter Yery in several fonts|class=skin-invert-image upright=0.25|thumb|Cursive Yery|class=skin-invert-image Like many other Cyrillic letters, it was originally from a ligature {{slavonic|ꙑ}} (which is represented in Unicode as Yeru with Back Yer), formed from Yer {{angbr|ъ}} and Dotted I {{angbr|і}} (formerly written either dotless or with two dots) or Izhe ({{angbr|и}} which formerly resembled {{angbr|н}}). In Medieval manuscripts, it is almost always found as {{angbr|ъі}} or {{angbr|ъи}}.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} The modern form {{angbr|ы}} first occurred in South Slavic manuscripts following the loss of palatalization of word-final and preconsonantal consonants, so the letters {{angbr|ъ}} and {{angbr|ь}} became confused; since the end of the 14th century, {{angbr|ы}} came to be used in East Slavic manuscripts.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}
==Usage== While vowel letters in the Cyrillic alphabet may be divided into iotated and non-iotated pairs (for example, {{angbr|о}} and {{angbr|ё}} both represent {{IPA|/o/}}, the latter denoting a preceding palatalised consonant), {{angbr|ы}} is more complicated. It appears only after hard consonants, its phonetic value differs from {{angbr|и}}, and there is some scholarly disagreement as to whether or not {{angbr|ы}} and {{angbr|и}} denote different phonemes.{{Citation needed|date=January 2017}} This confusion may stem from the fact that the phonetic value of {{angbr|ы}} is sometimes attached to {{angbr|и}}, particularly after certain hard consonants. Examples include words such as {{lang|ru|шить}} or {{lang|ru|жизнь}} - despite being written with {{angbr|и}}, they are pronounced as if {{angbr|ы}} had been written.
===In Russian=== There are no native Russian words that begin with {{angbr|ы}} (except for the specific verb {{lang|ru|ыкать}}: "to say the {{angbr|ы}}-sound"), but there are many proper and common nouns of non-Russian origin (including some geographical names in Russia) that begin with it: Kim Jong-un ({{lang|ru|Ким Чен Ын}}) and Ŭlchi Mundŏk ({{lang|ru|Ыльчи Мундок}}), a Korean military leader; and Ytyk-Kyuyol ({{lang|ru|Ытык-Кюёль}}), Ygyatta ({{lang|ru|Ыгыатта}}), a village and a river in Sakha (Yakutia) Republic respectively.
===In Ukrainian=== In the Ukrainian alphabet, yery is not used since the language lacks the sound {{IPA|/ɨ/}}.<ref name=vnulu2010>Larysa Pavlenko ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20160207205337/http://shron.chtyvo.org.ua/Pavlenko_Larysa/Istorychna_hramatyka_ukrainskoi_movy.pdf Historical grammar of the Ukrainian language (Історична граматика української мови)]''. The editorial and publishing department of the Volyn National University of Lesia Ukrainka. Lutsk, 2010. pages 47-48</ref> In the Ukrainian alphabet, yery merged with [i] and was phased out in the second half of the 19th century.<ref>Hlushchenko, V. ''[http://izbornyk.org.ua/ukrmova/um16.htm Yer, yery (ЄР, ЄРИ)]''. Ukrainian Language. Encyclopedia (Izbornik).</ref> According to the Ukrainian academician Hryhoriy Pivtorak, the letter was replaced with so called "Cyrillic i" {{angbr|и}}, which in Ukrainian represents the sound {{IPAblink|ɪ}}, which appeared by the merger of the earlier sounds [ɨ] and [i]. Ukrainian also had newly developed the sound [i] from various origins, which is represented by {{angbr|i}} ("Cyrillic dotted i").<ref name=vnulu2010/> Yery could be found in several earlier versions of the Ukrainian writing system that were introduced in the 19th century among which were "Pavlovsky writing system", "Sloboda Ukraine (New) writing system", and "Yaryzhka".<ref>Hryhoriy Pivtorak. ''[http://litopys.org.ua/ukrmova/um77.htm Orthography (ПРАВОПИС)]''. Izbornik.</ref>
===In Rusyn=== In Rusyn, it denotes {{IPAblink|ɯ}}, a sound that is a bit harder than {{IPA|[ɨ]}} and similar to the Romanian sound ''î'', which is also written ''â''. In some cases, the letter may occur after palatalised consonants ({{lang|rue|синьый}} "blue", which never happens in Russian), and it often follows {{angbr|к}}, {{angbr|г}}, {{angbr|ґ}} and {{angbr|х}}.
===In Turkic languages=== The letter {{angbr|ы}} is also used in Cyrillic-based alphabets of several Turkic and Mongolic languages (see the list) for a darker vowel {{IPAblink|ɯ}}. The corresponding letter in Latin-based scripts are {{angbr|ı}} (dotless I), I with bowl (Ь ь), and {{Angbr|y}} (in Turkmen).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Turkmen Language, Writing and Pronunciation |url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/turkmen.htm |website=omniglot.com}}</ref>
In Tuvan, the Cyrillic letter can be written as a double vowel.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tuvan.php|title=Tuvan language, alphabet and pronunciation |work=omniglot.com |access-date=14 June 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jWwqAAAAQBAJ |title=Compendium of the World's Languages |first1=George L. |last1=Campbell |first2=Gareth |last2=King |date=24 July 2013 |publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136258459 | access-date=14 June 2016 |via=Google Books }}</ref>
===In Mongolian=== In Mongolian, yery is called ({{lang|mn|Жаран Нэгийн Ы}}, "Sixty One Yery"). It is used as a suffix in a lot of words in the Mongolian language. ({{lang|mn|Кирилл монгол бичгийн дүрэм}} "Mongolian Cyrillic Alphabet").
==Related letters and other similar characters== *И и : Cyrillic letter I *Й й : Cyrillic letter Short I *Ъ ъ : Cyrillic letter Yer *Ꙑ ꙑ : Cyrillic letter Yeru with back Yer *Ь ь : Cyrillic letter Soft sign *Ҍ ҍ : Cyrillic letter semisoft sign *Ѣ ѣ : Cyrillic letter ''yat'' *I ı : Latin letter Dotless I *Ь ь : Latin letter I with bowl *Ư ư : Latin letter U with horn, the 26th letter of the Vietnamese alphabet. *Y y : Latin letter Y *Ý ý : Latin letter Ý *B b : Latin letter B (lowercase) *L l : Latin letter L (lowercase)
==Computing codes== {{charmap |042B|name1=Cyrillic Capital Letter Yeru |044B|name2=Cyrillic Small Letter Yeru |A650|name3=Cyrillic Capital Letter Yeru<br />with Back Yer |A651|name4=Cyrillic Small Letter Yeru<br />with Back Yer |map1=KOI8-R and KOI8-U |map1char1=F9 |map1char2=D9 |map2=Code page 855 |map2char1=F2 |map2char2=F1 |map3=Code page 866 |map3char1=9B |map3char2=EB |map4=Windows-1251 |map4char1=DB |map4char2=FB |map5=ISO-8859-5 |map5char1=CB |map5char2=EB |map6=Macintosh Cyrillic |map6char1=9B |map6char2=FB }}
==References== {{Reflist}} *[http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/index.html Russian: An interactive online reference grammar], by Dr Robert Beard
==External links== *{{Wiktionary-inline|Ы}} *{{Wiktionary-inline|ы}}
{{Cyrillic navbox}}
Category:Cyrillic ligatures