01OVERVIEW
Front Matter
SCRIPT · PROFILE
Cyrillic Кириллица
The script binding the Slavic world — from the 9th-century mission of Cyril and Methodius to 250 million users today.
Created in the 9th century by Saint Methodius, who reworked his brother Cyril's Glagolitic into a Greek-based system. It now writes 50+ languages including Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian, used by ~250 million people. During the Soviet era, it was forcibly imposed on Central Asian languages; since the USSR's collapse, several nations have been switching to Latin script in a continuing historical transformation.
1,150 Years of Cyrillic
From a missionary script to twelve nations
863
Slavic mission
Cyril and Methodius set out for Moravia, creating Glagolitic to translate scripture.
c. 893
Cyrillic proper
At the Preslav Literary School, disciples rework the script on a Greek base and name it for their teacher.
988
Spread to the East Slavs
With the Christianization of Kievan Rus, the script moves north.
1708
Civil script
Peter the Great's grazhdanka sheds the church hand for a modern printing type.
1918
Orthographic reform
Revolutionary Russia drops four archaic letters — the modern Russian alphabet is born.
1991~
Realignment
After the USSR: Uzbek and Kazakh shift to Latin, while Bulgaria carries Cyrillic into the EU.
02ARTIFACT
Primary Artifact
Ostromir Gospels
1056–1057 · Kievan Rus · oldest dated East Slavic manuscript
Full
Text
Ornament
— Opening of the Gospel of John with evangelist portrait · 11th-century Kievan Rus illumination
A Gospel commissioned for Ostromir, the posadnik (mayor) of Novgorod in Kievan Rus. The oldest dated East Slavic Cyrillic manuscript — the apex of early Cyrillic Ustav script and the starting point of Russian paleography.
04SPECIMEN
The Letters
Signs · Unicode · TypesSample GlyphsClick to copy
Unicode
Range 1U+0400–U+04FF
Range 2U+0500–U+052F
Total signs33
In Unicode304
Unicode Blocks
Glyph evolution
Form change over time
Loading evolution data…
06MECHANICS
Reading Mechanics
Direction · Method↔
Direction
Left to Right (LTR)
Left to right (LTR)
α
System
Alphabet
⌨
Input method
Direct Unicode input
Keyboard layout
Standard IME · input chart
Cyrillic Keyboard (Russian ЙЦУКЕН)
Russian standard named after ЙЦУКЕН keys. Mixed vowels and consonants.
Йй
Цц
Уу
Кк
Ее
Нн
Гг
Шш
Щщ
Зз
Фф
Ыы
Вв
Аа
Пп
Рр
Оо
Лл
Дд
Жж
Яя
Чч
Сс
Мм
Ии
Тт
Ьь
Бб
Юю
space
⌫
💡 Reflects Russian phonological structure. ъ (hard sign) and ё on separate positions.
07LINEAGE
The Lineage
Family · DescendantsPhylogeny
Ancestors & descendants
Phylogeny
Related scripts
Ancestors · Descendants · Family
Ancestors
Descendants
08REACH
In the World
Usage · ReachUsage by region
Those who write Cyrillic daily
Cyrillic in numbers
Users · Countries · Years
250M
Users
12+
Countries
1,150
Years
Major collections
К
Russian National Library
St Petersburg
☦
State Historical Museum
Moscow
Б
SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library
Sofia
⛪
St Clement of Ohrid sites
Ohrid
Living legacy
2007
EU official script
With Bulgaria's accession, the third official script of the EU after Latin and Greek
5/24
Slavic languages
Standard script of the East and South Slavic languages
2
Serbian digraphia
Serbian runs Cyrillic and Latin side by side — the textbook case of digraphia
5/24절
Alphabet Day
Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, a national holiday honoring the script itself