I
Front Matter
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.
II
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.
III
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…
V
Reading Mechanics
Direction · Method↔
Direction
Left to Right (LTR)
좌→우 (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.
VI
The Lineage
Family · DescendantsPhylogeny
Descendants of hieroglyphs
Phylogeny
Related scripts
Ancestors · Descendants · Family
Ancestors
Descendants
VII