Lje (Љ љ; italics: Љ љ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script.

Cyrillic letter Lje
Cyrillic letter lje.svg
Phonetic usage:[ʎ]
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̄Е̂ЁЄЄ́ЖЗЗ́
ЅИІІ́ЇЇ́И́
ЍИ̂ӢЙЈКЛЉ
МНЊОО́О̀О̂Ō
ӦПРСС́ТЋЌ
УУ́У̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЫ́ЬѢЭЭ́Ю
Ю́Ю̀ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈ҔҒCyrillic capital letter Ghe with stroke and descender.svgӺҒ̌Ӷ
Cyrillic capital letter Ghe with hook.svgД́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆ӖЕ̃
Ё̄Є̈ҖӜӁЖ̣ҘӞ
З̌З̣З̆ԐԐ̈ӠИ̃Ӥ
ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣Ԛ
Л́ӅԮԒЛ̈ӍН́
ӉҢԨӇҤО̆О̃Ӧ̄
ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆ӪԤП̈Р̌
ҎС̌ҪС̣С̱Т́Т̈Т̌
Т̇Т̣ҬCyrillic capital letter Te Soft-sign.svgУ̃ӲУ̊Ӱ̄
ҰҮҮ́Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑Х̌
ҲӼӾҺԦЦ̌Ц̈Ҵ
ҶҶ̣ӴӋCyrillic capital letter Che with hook.svgҸЧ̇Ч̣
ҼҾШ̈Ш̣Ы̆Ы̄Ӹ
ҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇ӬӬ́
Ӭ̄Ю̆Ю̈Ю̈́Ю̄Я̆Я̄Я̈
Я̈́Ӏ
Archaic or unused letters
Cyrillic capital letter script A.svgА̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆Cyrillic capital letter split by middle ring Ghe.svgԀД̓
Д̀Д̨Cyrillic capital letter archaic Dje.svgԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̑Cyrillic small letter Zhe with long middle leg and stroke through descender.svgCyrillic capital letter bashkir Ie.svgCyrillic small letter Dje with high right breve serif.svgЏ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆԪ
Cyrillic capital letter Shha with Cil top.svgCyrillic capital letter Shha with high right breve serif.svgІ̂І̣І̨Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Dha.svg
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆К̑
К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂Cyrillic capital letter Ka with loop.svgCyrillic small letter ka with ascender.svgЛ̀
ԠԈЛ̑Л̇ԔМ̀М̃
Н̀Н̄Н̧Н̃ԊԢН̡
ѺCyrillic capital letter open at bottom O.svg
Cyrillic capital letter O with left notch.svgП̓П̀П́П̧П̑ҦҀ
Ԛ̆Cyrillic capital letter Shha with hook.svgР́Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈
ԌҪ̓Cyrillic capital letter long Es.svgТ̓Т̀ԎТ̑
Т̧Ꚍ̆Cyrillic small letter Te El Soft-sign.svgCyrillic small letter voiceless L with comma above.svgѸCyrillic capital letter script U.svg
У̇У̨Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇
Х̧Х̓Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Ha.svgѠѼѾ
Ц̀Ц́Ц̓Cyrillic capital letter Tse with long left leg.svgꚎ̆Cyrillic capital letter Cil.svgCyrillic capital letter Cil with bar.svg
Ч́Ч̀Ч̑Ч̓Cyrillic capital letter Char.svgCyrillic small letter Char with high right breve serif.svgԬ
Ꚇ̆Ҽ̆Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆
Ꚗ̆Cyrillic capital letter Che Sha.svgЫ̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Ю̂Я̂Я̨Ԙ
ѤѦѪѨѬ
ѮѰѲѴѶ

Lje represents a palatal lateral /ʎ/, a sound similar (but not identical) to the palatalized alveolar lateral, which is in some languages represented by the digraph ⟨ль⟩ and pronounced /lʲ/ like the ⟨ll⟩ in "million". Compare Latvian ⟨ļ⟩, Slovak ⟨ľ⟩, Portuguese ⟨lh⟩, Spanish ⟨ll⟩ and Italian ⟨gl⟩.

Lje is a ligature of ⟨л⟩ and ⟨ь⟩.[1] It was invented by Vuk Stefanović Karadžić for use in his 1818 dictionary, replacing the earlier digraph ⟨ль⟩.[1] It corresponds to the digraph Lj in Gaj's Latin alphabet for Serbo-Croatian.[1]

It is today used in Macedonian, variants of Serbo-Croatian when written in Cyrillic (Bosnian, Montenegrin and Serbian), and Itelmen.

It was also once used in the Udege language.

Lje is commonly transliterated as lj but it can also be transliterated as ľ, or ļ.

Related letters and other similar charactersEdit

Computing codesEdit

Character information
Preview Љ љ
Unicode name CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER LJE CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER LJE
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 1033 U+0409 1113 U+0459
UTF-8 208 137 D0 89 209 153 D1 99
Numeric character reference Љ Љ љ љ
Named character reference Љ љ
Code page 855 145 91 144 90
Windows-1251 138 8A 154 9A
ISO-8859-5 169 A9 249 F9
Macintosh Cyrillic 188 BC 189 BD

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ a b c Maretić, Tomislav. Gramatika i stilistika hrvatskoga ili srpskoga književnog jezika. 1899.

External linksEdit

  •   The dictionary definition of Љ at Wiktionary
  •   The dictionary definition of љ at Wiktionary
  • Audio samples of the letter Lje