De (Д д or D, g; italics: Д д or D, g or Д д or D ɡ; italics: Д д or D ɡ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced dental stop /d̪/, like the pronunciation of ⟨d⟩ in "door", except closer to the teeth. De is usually romanised using the Latin letter D.

Cyrillic letter De
Phonetic usage:[d], [t]
Name (Early Cyrillic alphabet):добро
Numeric value:4
Derived from:Greek letter Delta (Δ δ)
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА̀А̂А̄ӒБВГ
ҐДЂЃЕЀЕ̄Е̂
ЁЄЖЗЗ́ЅИІ
ЇЍИ̂ӢЙЈК
ЛЉМНЊОО̀О̂
ŌӦПРСС́ТЋ
ЌУУ̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЬѢЭЮЮ̀Я
Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈ҔҒӺҒ̌Ӷ
Д́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆ӖЕ̃
Ё̄Є̈ԐԐ̈ҖӜӁЖ̣
ҘӞЗ̌З̣З̆ӠИ̃Ӥ
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣Ԛ
Л́ӅԮԒЛ̈Ӎ
Н́ӉҢԨӇҤО̆О̃
Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆ӪԤП̈
Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈
Т̌Т̇Т̣ҬУ̃ӲУ̊
Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑
Х̌ҲӼӾҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌
Ц̈ҴҶҶ̣ӴӋҸ
Ч̇Ч̣ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆
Ы̄ӸҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇
ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̄Я̆Я̄
Я̈Ӏʼˮ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̀Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆ
ԪІ̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆
К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂
Л̀ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧
Н̃ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀
П́ҦП̧П̑ҀԚ̆Р́
Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓
Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧
Ꚍ̆ОУУ̇
У̨ꙋ́Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇
Х̧Х̾Х̓һ̱ѠѼ
ѾЦ̀Ц́Ц̓Ꚏ̆
Ч́Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓
ԬꚆ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀
Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆Ы̂
Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆Э̨Э̂
Ю̂Я̈Я̂Я̨
ԘѤѦѪѨ
ѬѮѰѲѴѶ

History edit

The Cyrillic letter De was derived from the Greek letter Delta (Δ δ).

In the Early Cyrillic alphabet its name was добро (dobro), meaning "good".

In the Cyrillic numeral system, De had a value of 4.

Form edit

 
De, from Elizaveta Bem's alphabet book

The major graphic difference between De and its modern Greek equivalent lies in the two descenders ("feet") below the lower corners of the Cyrillic letter. The descenders were borrowed from a Byzantine uncial shape of uppercase Delta. The descenders sometimes make De confusable with a Latin letter A or the identical Cyrillic letter.

De, like the Cyrillic letter El, has two typographical variants: an older variant where its top is pointed (like Delta), and a modern one (first used in mid-19th-century fonts) where it is square. Nowadays, almost all books and magazines are printed with fonts with the second variant of the letter; the first one is rather stylish and only a few popular text fonts use it (the best known example is "Baltika" designed in 1951-52 by V. G. Chiminova and others).

 
handwritten forms

In italic (Russian) type, the lowercase form looks more like the lowercase Latin ⟨d⟩, a mirrored numeral 6 or a partial derivative symbol ⟨∂⟩. Southern (Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) typography may prefer a variant that looks like a single-storey lowercase Latin ⟨g⟩. Cursive lowercase De has the same two shapes, but with a different distribution: for example, the g-shaped variant is a standard for Russian schools.[1]

The (Russian-Ukrainian-Belarusian-Bulgarian) cursive form of capital De looks like Latin D as the printed version is not comfortable enough to be written quickly. The Serbian cursive form is closer to the shape of a numeral "2" (identical to the form sometimes used for uppercase cursive Latin Q); this form is unknown in Russia.

Usage edit

It most often represents the voiced dental plosive /d/. However, word-finally and before voiceless consonants, it represents a voiceless [t]. Before a palatalizing vowel, it represents /dʲ/.

Related letters and other similar characters edit

Computing codes edit

Character information
Preview Д д
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER DE CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER DE CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER LONG-LEGGED DE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 1044 U+0414 1076 U+0434 7297 U+1C81
UTF-8 208 148 D0 94 208 180 D0 B4 225 178 129 E1 B2 81
Numeric character reference Д Д д д ᲁ ᲁ
Named character reference Д д
KOI8-R and KOI8-U 228 E4 196 C4
Code page 855 167 A7 166 A6
Windows-1251 196 C4 228 E4
ISO-8859-5 180 B4 212 D4
Macintosh Cyrillic 132 84 228 E4

References edit

  1. ^ "Русский алфавит" [Russian alphabet]. Archived from the original on June 6, 2013.

External links edit

  •   The dictionary definition of Д at Wiktionary
  •   The dictionary definition of д at Wiktionary