View source for Yery

{{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
| 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&nbsp;ы</span>; italics: <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">''Ы&nbsp;ы''</span>), usually called '''Y''' {{IPA|ru|ɨ|}} in modern [[Russian language|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 alphabet|Belarusian]] and [[Russian alphabet]]s.

The letter is usually [[romanisation of Russian|romanised]] {{angbr|y}}, such that the [[family name]] {{lang|ru|Крылов}} is usually written [[Krylov]] in [[English language|English]] and most other West European languages. That spelling matches the [[Polish alphabet|Latin alphabet]] used for [[Polish language|Polish]], whose letter {{angbr|y}} represents the same sound. Similarly, {{angbr|ы}} is used for {{angbr|y}} in the [[Cyrillic transcriptions of Polish|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 [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] (such as {{angbr|[[я]]}}, {{translit|ru|ya}}).

In [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]], {{Angbr|ы}} represents the [[close-mid back unrounded vowel]] {{IPA|/ɤ/}}. In most [[Turkic languages]] that use [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]], such as [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]] and [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]], {{Angbr|ы}} is used to represent the [[close back unrounded vowel]] /ɯ/ instead.

==Origin==
[[File:Yeri.png|thumb|The letter Yery in several fonts]]
[[File:29-Russian alphabet-ы.svg|40px|thumb|Cursive Yery]]
Like [[:Category:Cyrillic ligatures|many other Cyrillic letters]], it was originally from a [[typographic ligature|ligature]] {{slavonic|ꙑ}} (which is represented in Unicode as Yeru with Back Yer), formed from [[Yer]] {{angbr|ъ}} and [[Dotted I (Cyrillic)|Dotted I]] {{angbr|і}} (formerly written either dotless or with two dots) or [[I (Cyrillic)|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}}

===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 Republic|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 "[[I (Cyrillic)|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}} ("[[Dotted I (Cyrillic)|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 language#Alphabet|Rusyn]], it denotes a sound that is a bit harder {{IPAblink|ɯ}} than {{IPA|[ɨ]}} and similar to the [[Romanian language|Romanian]] sound ''î'', which is also written ''â''. In some cases, the letter may occur after [[palatalization (phonetics)|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 languages|Turkic]] and [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]] languages (see [[Cyrillic alphabets#Mongolian|the list]]) for a [[back vowel|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 language|Turkmen]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Turkmen Language, Writing and Pronunciation |url=https://www.omniglot.com/writing/turkmen.htm |website=omniglot.com}}</ref>

In [[Tuvan language|Tuvan]], the Cyrillic letter can be written as a [[Digraph (orthography)#Homogeneous digraph|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 language|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 : [[И|Cyrillic letter I]]
*Й й : [[Й|Cyrillic letter Short I]]
*Ъ ъ : [[Ъ|Cyrillic letter Yer]]
*Ꙑ ꙑ : [[Ꙑ|Cyrillic letter Yeru with back Yer]]
*Ь ь : [[Soft sign|Cyrillic letter Soft sign]]
*Ҍ ҍ : [[Ҍ|Cyrillic letter semisoft sign]]
*Ѣ ѣ : [[Yat|Cyrillic letter ''yat'']]
*I ı : [[Dotless I|Latin letter Dotless I]]
*Ь ь : [[I with bowl|Latin letter I with bowl]]
*Ư ư : [[Ư|Latin letter U with horn]], the 26th letter of the [[Vietnamese alphabet]].
*Y y : [[Y|Latin letter Y]]
*Ý ý : [[Ý|Latin letter Ý]]
*B b : [[B|Latin letter B (lowercase)]]
*L 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 encoding|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]]