The Cyrillic Alphabet

The Cyrillic alphabet is used in many countries. Russia is the most famous. About 250 million people read and write Cyrillic letters. Some letters look like Roman letters, but they sound different. Cyrillic was made more than 1,000 years ago.

Who Made Cyrillic

Two brothers named Cyril and Methodius helped create the Cyrillic alphabet. They lived in the 800s. They wanted people in eastern Europe to be able to read the Bible. The alphabet was named after Saint Cyril. It was based on the Greek alphabet with some extra letters added.

Tricky Letters

Cyrillic can trick English speakers. The letter that looks like 'P' is actually the sound 'r.' The letter that looks like 'H' is the sound 'n.' The letter that looks like a backwards 'R' makes a 'ya' sound. Once you learn the real sounds, reading Cyrillic gets much easier.

Fun Facts

• Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian all use Cyrillic.
• Cyrillic has 33 letters in the Russian version.
• The letter Ж looks like a spider or bug.

Did You Know?

When countries joined the European Union, Cyrillic became one of the official alphabets. Euro money shows the word 'euro' written in Cyrillic too.