Ve (В в; italics:
''В'' ''в'') is a letter of the
Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking c ...
. It commonly represents the voiced labiodental fricative , like in "vase".
The capital letter Ve
looks the same as the capital
Latin letter B but is pronounced differently.
Ve is commonly romanized by the
Latin letter V but sometimes the
Latin letter W (such as in
Polish or
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
).
History
Both Ve and the
Cyrillic letter Be (Б б) were derived from the
Greek letter Beta (Β β), which already represented in Greek by the time the Cyrillic alphabet was created.
In the
Early Cyrillic alphabet, its name was (''vědě''), meaning "I know".
In the
Cyrillic numeral system
Cyrillic numerals are a numeral system derived from the Cyrillic script, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the late 10th century. It was used in the First Bulgarian Empire and by South and East Slavic peoples. The system was used in ...
, it had the value of 2.
Usage
In
Russian and
Bulgarian, Ve generally represents , but
at the end of a word or
before voiceless consonants, it represents the voiceless . Before a
palatalizing vowel, it represents .
In standard
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
pronunciation (based on the
Poltava
Poltava (, ; uk, Полтава ) is a city located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the capital city of the Poltava Oblast (province) and of the surrounding Poltava Raion (district) of the oblast. Poltava is administrativel ...
dialect), Ve represents a sound like the English W () when in the word final position. Because of this, it is not uncommon to see words ending in transcribed to end in , for example, = ''Vladyslaw'' for ''Vladislav''.
Additionally, some Ukrainians also use this pronunciation in words where the letter is directly preceded by a consonant, while for others all occurrences of the letter Ve denote . In Eastern
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
, the letter Ve may represent a voiceless , but this is considered a
Russianism
Russianism or Russicism is an influence of the Russian language on other languages. In particular, Russianisms are Russian or Russified words, expressions, or grammar constructs used in Slavic languages, languages of CIS states and languages of ...
, as
word-final devoicing does not occur in standard Ukrainian. For example, the standard Ukrainian pronunciation of the word (''
esaid'') is . However in Eastern Ukraine one is likely to hear the Russified (with final devoicing).
In
Belarusian, the letter Ve represents only the sound . In the word final position, or if directly proceeded by a consonant, it mutates to the letter
Short U
Short U (Ў ў; italics: ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. The only Slavic language using this letter in its orthography is Belarusian, though it is used as a phonetic symbol in some Russian and Ukrainian dictionaries. Among the non-Sl ...
(Ў ў), a Belarusian letter representing the sound . E.g., the Belarusian noun "language" is (''mova''), but the adjectival form is (''mowny''), and the genitive plural of the noun (formed by removing the final ) is (''mow'').
In
Rusyn
Rusyn may refer to:
* Rusyn people, an East Slavic people
** Pannonian Rusyn people, a branch of Rusyn people
** Lemkos, a branch of Rusyn (or Ukrainian) people
** Boykos, a branch of Rusyn (or Ukrainian) people
* Rusyn language, an East Slavic l ...
, the letter Ve represents the sound /v/, or /w/ if it is at the end of the word.
In
Serbian
Serbian may refer to:
* someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe
* someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people
* Serbian language
* Serbian names
See also
*
*
* Old Serbian (disambiguation ...
and
Montenegrin, the letter Ve represents only the sound /v/.
In
Macedonian
Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia.
Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to:
People Modern
* Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...
the letter is used for the sound /v/, but if the letter appears at the end of the word then it is pronounced as /f/. An example of this is the word бев
ɛf('I was').
In
Tuvan, it is used for /
ʋ/.
In
Mongolian,
Kalmyk, and
Dungan Dungan may refer to:
* Donegan, an Irish surname, sometimes spelled Dungan
* Dungan people, a group of Muslim people of Hui origin
** Dungan language
** Dungan, sometimes used to refer to Hui Chinese people generally
* Dungan Mountains in Sibi Di ...
, it is used for /w/.
Related letters and other similar characters
*Β β :
Greek letter Beta
*Б б :
Cyrillic letter Be
*Ѵ ѵ :
Cyrillic Letter Izhitsa
*B b :
Latin letter B
*V v :
Latin letter V
*W w :
Latin letter W
*Ԝ ԝ :
Cyrillic Letter We
Computing codes
External links
*
*
References
{{Authority control