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Zhe (Cyrillic)

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Cyrillic letter Zhe
Phonetic usage:[ʐ], [ʒ], [ʑ], [t͡ʃ], [d͡ʒ]
Name (Early Cyrillic alphabet):живѣтє
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӐӒБ
ВГҐДЂЃЕЕ́
ЀЕ̂Е̄ЁЄЄ́ЖЗ
З́ЅИІІ́ЇИ́
ЍИ̂ӢЙӤЈКЛ
ЉМНЊОО́О̀О̂
ŌӦПРСС́ТЋ
ЌУУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰ
ФХЦЧЏШЩ
ЪЪ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́
ЮЮ́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
А̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃Ӛ
В̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂Г̆
Г̈г̊ҔҒӺҒ̌ғ̊
ӶГ̡Д́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆Ӗ
Е̃Ё̄Є̈ԐԐ̈ҖӜӁ
Ж̣ҘӞЗ̌З̣З̆ӠИ̃
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣к̊
қ̊ԚЛ́ӅԮԒЛ̈
ӍН́ӉҢԨӇҤ
О̆О̃Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆Ӫ
ԤП̈Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱
Т́Т̈Т̌Т̇Т̣ҬУ̃
ӲУ̊Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱
Х̮Х̑Х̌ҲӼх̊Ӿӿ̊
ҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌Ц̈ҴҶҶ̣
ӴӋҸЧ̇Ч̣ҼҾ
Ш̣Ы̆Ы̄ӸҌҨ
Э̆Э̄Э̇ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈
Ю̄Я̆Я̄Я̈Ӏʼˮ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̀Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆ
ԪІ̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆
К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂
Л̀ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧
Н̃ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀
П́ҦП̧П̑ҀԚ̆Р́
Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓
Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧
Ꚍ̆ѸУ̇
У̨ꙋ́Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇
Х̧Х̾Х̓һ̱ѠѼ
ѾЦ̀Ц́Ц̓Ꚏ̆
Ч́Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓
ԬꚆ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀
Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆Ъ̄Ъ̈
Ъ̈̄Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂
Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦѪ
ѨѬѮѰѲѴѶ
Zhe, from Alexandre Benois' 1904 alphabet book

Zhe, Zha, or Zhu, sometimes transliterated as Že (Ж ж; italics: Ж ж) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced retroflex sibilant /ʐ/ (listen) or voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, like the pronunciation of the ⟨s⟩ in "measure". It is also often used with D (Д) to approximate the sound in English of the Latin letter J with a ДЖ combination. Zhe is romanized as ⟨zh⟩, ⟨j⟩ or ⟨ž⟩.

History

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It is not known how the character for Zhe was derived. No similar letter exists in Greek, Latin or any other alphabet of the time, though there is some graphic similarity with its Glagolitic counterpart Zhivete ⟨Ⰶ⟩ (Image: ) which represents the same sound. However, the origin of Zhivete, like that of most Glagolitic letters, is unclear.[citation needed]

One possibility is that it was formed from the pronunciation of Hebrew letter Zayin ⟨ז⟩ combined with the Hebrew letter Shin ⟨ש⟩ letter, to eventually form the Modern Hebrew letter of Zhayin ⟨'ז⟩, with a geresh ⟨'⟩ on top for distinction.

Zhe may also be derived from the Coptic letter janjiaϪ⟩, supported by the phonetic value (janjia represents the sound /d͡ʒ/ in Coptic) and shape of the letter, which the Glagolitic counterpart Zhivete ⟨Ⰶ⟩ resembles even more closely. The form of the letter also may be derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph depicting a drill:

U29

It may be a ligature, formed from combining two "K" letters (one backward form) sharing a common stem.[citation needed]

Some Ukrainian scholars argue that it is shape of beetle, since Zhe is the first phoneme in the Slavic word жукъ (žuk), meaning "beetle".[1]

In the Early Cyrillic alphabet the name of Zhe was живѣтє (živěte), meaning "live" (imperative).

Zhe was not used in the Cyrillic numeral system.

Usage

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Zhe is used in the alphabets of all Slavic languages using a Cyrillic alphabet, and of most non-Slavic languages which use a Cyrillic alphabet. The position in the alphabet and the sound represented by the letter vary from language to language.

Language Position in
alphabet
Represented sound Romanization
Belarusian 8th voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ zh
Bulgarian 7th voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ zh
Macedonian 8th voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ ž or zh
Russian 8th voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ zh
Serbian 8th voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ ž
Ukrainian 9th voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ zh
Uzbek (1940–1994) 8th voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ or voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ (in Russian loanwords only) j
Mongolian 8th voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/ j
Kazakh 10th voiced alveolo-palatal fricative /ʑ/, sometimes voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ in speech j
Kyrgyz 8th voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ j
Dungan 8th voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ r
other non-Slavic languages voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/

Zhe can also be used in Leet speak or faux Cyrillic in place of the letter x, or to represent the symbol of the rap duo Kris Kross (a ligature of two back-to-back letter K's).

Transliteration

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Ж is most often transliterated as the digraph ⟨zh⟩ for English-language readers (as in Doctor Zhivago, Доктор Живаго, or Georgy Zhukov, Георгий Жуков). In linguistics and for Central European readers, it is most often transliterated as ⟨ž⟩, with a háček. The scientific transliteration convention comes from Czech spelling and is also used in the Latin alphabets of several other Slavic languages (Slovak, Sorbian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene). Thus, Leonid Brezhnev's surname (Леонид Брежнев) could be transliterated as "Brežnev", as it is spelled in a number of Slavic languages. Polish uses its own convention for transliteration of Cyrillic according to which ж is transliterated with the Polish letter ż (which is pronounced /ʐ/ in Polish). Ж is often transliterated ⟨j⟩ in Mongolian because of its pronunciation as [t͡ʃ].

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Computing codes

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Character information
Preview Ж ж
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ZHE CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ZHE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 1046 U+0416 1078 U+0436
UTF-8 208 150 D0 96 208 182 D0 B6
Numeric character reference Ж Ж ж ж
Named character reference Ж ж
KOI8-R and KOI8-U 246 F6 214 D6
Code page 855 234 EA 233 E9
Code page 866 134 86 166 A6
Windows-1251 198 C6 230 E6
ISO-8859-5 182 B6 214 D6
Macintosh Cyrillic 134 86 230 E6

References

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  1. ^ Вори, Комодори і (2024-08-17). "Літера Ж це зображення жука". Друкарня. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
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  • The dictionary definition of Ж at Wiktionary
  • The dictionary definition of ж at Wiktionary