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Yu (Cyrillic)
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<h2 id="pronunciation">Pronunciation</h2> <p>Sometimes, it is referred to as "Iotated U" because it is a so-called <a href="/facts/Iotation/e5XXwW2Y">iotated</a> vowel, pronounced in isolation as /ju/, like the pronunciation of ⟨u⟩ in "human". After a <a href="/facts/Consonant/81X2SGS6">consonant</a>, no distinct [j] sound is pronounced, but the consonant is <a href="/facts/Palatalization_(phonetics)/LXAIp4TB">softened</a>. The exact pronunciation of the vowel sound of ⟨ю⟩ in Slavic languages depends also on the succeeding sound. Before a soft consonant, it is [ʉ], the <a href="/facts/Close_central_rounded_vowel/y5ozF3Nk">close central rounded vowel</a>, as in 'rude'. Before a hard consonant or at the end of a word, the result is a back vowel [<a href="/facts/Close_back_rounded_vowel/gqlQLfse">u</a>], as in "pool". </p> <h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>Apart from the form <i>I-O</i>, in early <a href="/facts/Old_Church_Slavonic/KCEH4cFL">Slavonic</a> manuscripts the letter appears also in a mirrored form <i>O-I</i> (Ꙕ, ꙕ).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> It is the latter form that is probably the original, precisely displaying the Greek combination <a href="/facts/Omicron/PEloNryk">omicron</a>-<a href="/facts/Iota/XhgmDj1A">iota</a> (οι). At the time that the <a href="/facts/Greek_alphabet/1cHwB8Dg">Greek alphabet</a> was adapted to the Slavonic language giving rise to the Cyrillic alphabet, it denoted the <a href="/facts/Close_front_rounded_vowel/fAyNrUxL">close front rounded vowel</a> /y/ in educated Greek speech. The close <a href="/facts/Front_vowel/htKQs3AT"><i>front</i></a> rounded vowel does not appear in East Slavic. See above. </p><p>There was another way for it to lead to the modern form. By the analogy to several 'iotated' letters <a href="/facts/Iotated_E_(Cyrillic)/YLD6kLJz">Ѥ</a>, <a href="/facts/Ya_(Cyrillic)/oUanwEHR">Ꙗ</a>, <a href="/facts/Yus/2d0foY9g">Ѩ</a> and <a href="/facts/Yus/2d0foY9g">Ѭ</a>, the ancient ligature (or letter) <a href="/facts/Uk_(Cyrillic)/Q3dfMI1p">Uk</a> ⟨оѵ⟩/⟨оу⟩ possibly had its iotated form ⟨іоѵ⟩/⟨іоу⟩. </p><p>The iotated <a href="/facts/Big_Yus/2d0foY9g">big Yus</a> ⟨Ѭ⟩ merged itself to ⟨ю⟩ in East Slavic languages. </p><p>⟨Ю⟩ is the <a href="/facts/Voice_Quality_Symbol/8HReSrGR">Voice Quality Symbol</a> for <a href="/facts/Esophageal_speech/XN5MPtbC">tracheo-œsophageal speech</a> (the symbol attempts to capture iconically the dual nature of the airstream). </p> <h2 id="related-letters-and-other-similar-characters">Related letters and other similar characters</h2> <ul><li>У у : <a href="/facts/U_(Cyrillic)/N3QqTzgV">Cyrillic letter U</a></li> <li>Ү ү : <a href="/facts/Ue_(Cyrillic)/N3QqTzgV">Cyrillic letter Ue</a></li> <li>Û û : <a href="/facts/%25C3%259B/41AF4mKp">Latin letter U with circumflex</a></li> <li>Ū ū : <a href="/facts/%25C5%25AA/41AF4mKp">Latin letter U with macron</a></li> <li>Ǔ ǔ : <a href="/facts/%25C7%2593/41AF4mKp">Latin letter U with caron</a></li></ul> <h2 id="computing-codes">Computing codes</h2> Character information<table><tbody><tr><th scope="row">Preview</th><th colspan="2">Ю</th><th colspan="2">ю</th><th colspan="2">Ꙕ</th><th colspan="2">ꙕ</th></tr><tr><th>Unicode name</th><td colspan="2">CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER YU</td><td colspan="2">CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER YU</td><td colspan="2">CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER REVERSED YU</td><td colspan="2">CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER REVERSED YU</td></tr><tr><th>Encodings</th><th>decimal</th><th>hex</th><th>dec</th><th>hex</th><th>dec</th><th>hex</th><th>dec</th><th>hex</th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Unicode/DDu3MfPV">Unicode</a></td><td>1070</td><td>U+042E</td><td>1102</td><td>U+044E</td><td>42580</td><td>U+A654</td><td>42581</td><td>U+A655</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/UTF-8/xlaVHSyf">UTF-8</a></td><td>208 174</td><td>D0 AE</td><td>209 142</td><td>D1 8E</td><td>234 153 148</td><td>EA 99 94</td><td>234 153 149</td><td>EA 99 95</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Numeric_character_reference/wCEzNIlC">Numeric character reference</a></td><td>Ю</td><td>Ю</td><td>ю</td><td>ю</td><td>Ꙕ</td><td>Ꙕ</td><td>ꙕ</td><td>ꙕ</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/List_of_XML_and_HTML_character_entity_references/Pw0NWQLP">Named character reference</a></td><td colspan="2">Ю</td><td colspan="2">ю</td><td colspan="2"></td><td colspan="2"></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/KOI8-R/YA7j845v">KOI8-R</a> and <a href="/facts/KOI8-U/hkgHxdlx">KOI8-U</a></td><td>224</td><td>E0</td><td>192</td><td>C0</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Code page 855</td><td>157</td><td>9D</td><td>156</td><td>9C</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Windows-1251/mb3epF8S">Windows-1251</a></td><td>222</td><td>DE</td><td>254</td><td>FE</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/ISO-8859-5/RCKfCDGm">ISO-8859-5</a></td><td>206</td><td>CE</td><td>238</td><td>EE</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Macintosh_Cyrillic_encoding/XcKtBYAu">Macintosh Cyrillic</a></td><td>158</td><td>9E</td><td>254</td><td>FE</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li> The dictionary definition of Ю at Wiktionary</li> <li> The dictionary definition of ю at Wiktionary</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Yefim Karskiy (1979) [First published 1928]. Славянская кирилловская палеография [The Slavic Cyrillic paleography] (in Russian) (2nd, facsimile ed.). Nauka. pp. 205–206. <a href="Славянская кирилловская палеография" target="_blank">Славянская кирилловская палеография</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>