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Ge (Cyrillic)

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Cyrillic letter Ge or He
Phonetic usage:	[ɡ], [k], [v], [ɦ], [ɣ]
Name (Early Cyrillic alphabet):	глаголи
Numeric value:	3
Derived from:	Greek letter Gamma (Γ γ)
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
А А̀ А̂ А̄ Ӓ Б В Г Ґ Д Ђ Ѓ Е Ѐ Е̄ Е̂ Ё Є Ж З З́ Ѕ И І Ї Ꙇ Ѝ И̂ Ӣ Й Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О О̀ О̂ Ō Ӧ П Р С С́ Т Ћ Ќ У У̀ У̂ Ӯ Ў Ӱ Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш Щ Ꙏ Ъ Ъ̀ Ы Ь Ѣ Э Ю Ю̀ Я Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
Ӑ А̊ А̃ Ӓ̄ Ӕ Ә Ә́ Ә̃ Ӛ В̌ Ԝ Г̑ Г̇ Г̣ Г̌ Г̂ Г̆ Г̈ г̊ Ҕ Ғ Ӻ Ғ̌ ғ̊ Ӷ Д́ Д̌ Д̈ Д̣ Д̆ Ӗ Е̃ Ё̄ Є̈ Ԑ Ԑ̈ Җ Ӝ Ӂ Ж̣ Ҙ Ӟ З̌ З̣ З̆ Ӡ И̃ Ӥ Ҋ Қ Ӄ Ҡ Ҟ Ҝ К̣ к̊ қ̊ Ԛ ᴫ Л́ Ӆ Ԯ Ԓ Л̈ Ӎ ᵸ Н́ Ӊ Ң Ԩ Ӈ Ҥ О̆ О̃ Ӧ̄ Ө Ө̄ Ө́ Ө̆ Ӫ Ԥ П̈ Ҏ Р̌ С̌ Ҫ С̣ С̱ Т́ Т̈ Т̌ Т̇ Т̣ Ҭ У̃ Ӳ У̊ Ӱ̄ Ұ Ү Ү́ Х̣ Х̱ Х̮ Х̑ Х̌ Ҳ Ӽ х̊ Ӿ ӿ̊ Һ Һ̈ Ԧ Ц̌ Ц̈ Ҵ Ҷ Ҷ̣ Ӵ Ӌ Ҹ Ч̇ Ч̣ Ҽ Ҿ Ш̣ ꚜ Ы̆ Ы̄ Ӹ ꚝ Ҍ Ҩ Э̆ Э̄ Э̇ Ӭ Ӭ́ Ӭ̄ Ю̆ Ю̈ Ю̄ Я̆ Я̄ Я̈ Ӏ ʼ ˮ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨ Б̀ Б̣ Б̱ В̀ Г̀ Г̧ Г̄ Г̓ Г̆ Ҕ̀ Ҕ̆ Ԁ Д̓ Д̀ Д̨ Ԃ Ꚁ Ꙣ Е̇ Е̨ Ж̀ Ж̑ Ꙃ Ꙅ Џ̆ Ꚅ Ꚅ̆ Ꙁ З̀ З̑ Ԅ Ԇ Ꚉ Ԫ Ꚃ Ꚕ І̂ І̣ І̨ Ј̵ Ј̃ Ꙉ К̓ К̀ К̆ Ӄ̆ К̑ К̇ К̈ К̄ Ԟ К̂ Л̀ Ԡ Ꙥ Ԉ Л̑ Л̇ Ԕ М̀ М̃ Ꙧ Н̀ Н̄ Н̧ Н̃ Ԋ Ԣ Н̡ Ѻ Ꙩ Ꙫ Ꙭ ꙮ Ꚙ Ꚛ П̓ П̀ П́ Ҧ П̧ П̑ Ҁ Ԛ̆ Р́ Р̀ Р̃ Ԗ С̀ С̈ Ԍ Ҫ̓ Т̓ Т̀ Ԏ Т̑ Ꚋ Т̧ Ꚍ Ꚍ̆ ОУ Ꙋ У̇ У̨ ꙋ́ Ф̑ Ф̓ Х́ Х̀ Х̆ Х̇ Х̧ Х̾ Х̓ һ̱ Ѡ Ꙍ Ѽ Ѿ Ꙡ Ц̀ Ц́ Ц̓ Ꚏ Ꚏ̆ Ꚑ Ч́ Ч̀ Ч̆ Ч̑ Ч̓ Ԭ Ꚓ Ꚇ Ꚇ̆ Ҽ̆ Ш̀ Ш̆ Ш̑ Щ̆ Ꚗ Ꚗ̆ Ъ̄ Ъ̈ Ъ̈̄ Ꙑ Ы̂ Ы̃ Ѣ́ Ѣ̈ Ѣ̆ Ꙓ Э̨ Э̂ Ꙕ Ю̂ Ꙗ Я̈ Я̂ Я̨ Ԙ Ѥ Ѧ Ꙙ Ѫ Ꙛ Ѩ Ꙝ Ѭ Ѯ Ѱ Ѳ Ѵ Ѷ Ꙟ
List of Cyrillic letters List of Cyrillic multigraphs
v t e

Ge, ghe, or he (Г г; italics: Г г) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. Most commonly, it represents the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/, like ⟨g⟩ in "gift", or the voiced glottal fricative [ɦ], like ⟨h⟩ in "heft". It is generally romanized using the Latin letter gorh, depending on the source language.

History[edit]

The Cyrillic letter ge was derived directly from the Greek letter Gamma (Γ) in uncial script.

In the Early Cyrillic alphabet, its name was глаголь (glagol' ), meaning "speak".

In the Cyrillic numeral system, it had a numerical value of 3.

Usage in Slavic languages[edit]

Belarusian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian[edit]

From these three languages, the letter is romanized with h. Its name is he in Belarusian and Ukrainian, and hy in Rusyn.

InBelarusian (like in Southern Russian), the letter corresponds to the velar fricative /ɣ/^[1] and its soft counterpart /ɣʲ/.

InUkrainian and Rusyn, it represents a voiced glottal fricative [ɦ],^[1]abreathy voiced counterpart of the English [h].

InUkrainian and Rusyn, a voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ is written with the Cyrillic letter ghe with upturn (Ґ ґ). In Belarusian, the official orthography uses г for both /ɣ/ and /ɡ/ (which is rare), although in Taraškievica ghe with upturn is optionally used for /ɡ/. Ґ is transliterated with G.

In all three languages' historical ancestor Ruthenian, the sound /ɡ/ was also represented by the digraph кг.

Russian[edit]

In standard Russian, ghe represents the voiced velar plosive /ɡ/ but is devoiced to [k] word-finally or before a voiceless consonant. It represents /ɡʲ/ before a palatalizing vowel. In the Southern Russian dialect, the sound becomes the velar fricative /ɣ/. Sometimes, the sound is the glottal fricative /ɦ/ in the regions bordering Belarus and Ukraine.

It is acceptable, for some people, to pronounce certain Russian words with [ɣ] (sometimes referred to as Ukrainian Ge): Бог, богатый, благо, Господь (Bog, bogatyj, blago, Gospod’). The sound is normally considered nonstandard or dialectal in Russian and is avoided by educated Russian speakers. Бог (Bog, "God") is always pronounced [box] in the nominative case.^[1]

In the Russian nominal genitive ending -ого, -его, ghe represents [v], including in the word сегодня ("today", from сего дня).

It represents a voiceless [x] (not [k]) in front of ka in two Russian words, namely, мягкий and лёгкий, and their derivatives.

The Latin letter h of words of Latin, Greek, English or German origin is usually transliterated into Russian with ghe rather than kha: hero → герой, hamburger → гамбургер, Haydn → Гайдн. That can occasionally cause ambiguity, as for example English Harry and Gary/Garry would be spelled the same in Russian, e.g. Гарри Поттер). The reasons for using ghe to write h include the fact that ghe is used for h in Ukrainian, Belarusian and some Russian dialects, along with the perception that kha sounds too harsh. Nevertheless, in newer loanwords (especially from English), kha is often used. ^{[citation needed]}

South Slavic[edit]

In standard Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Bulgarian and Macedonian the letter ghe represents a voiced velar plosive /ɡ/. But in Bulgarian and Macedonian it is devoiced to [k] word-finally or before a voiceless consonant.

Usage in non-Slavic languages[edit]

In many non-Slavic languages it can represent both /ɡ/ and /ʁ~ɣ/ (the latter mostly in Turkic and some Finno-Ugric languages).

InOssetian, an Indo-Iranian language spoken in the Caucasus, ⟨г⟩ represents the voiced velar stop /ɡ/. However, the digraph ⟨гъ⟩ represents the voiced uvular fricative /ʁ/.

Related letters and other similar characters[edit]

• Γ γ: Greek letter Gamma
• G g: Latin letter G
• H h: Latin letter H, romanized as in Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn
• Z z: Latin letter Z, alternative form of italicized Cyrillic Г (ge)
• Ґ ґ: Cyrillic letter ghe with upturn, the letter g, named ge in Ukrainian
• Ѓ ѓ: Cyrillic letter Gje
• Ғ ғ: Cyrillic letter Ghayn
• R r: Latin letter R (lowercase)
• ₴: Ukrainian hryvnia (Currency sign)

Computing codes[edit]

Cultural references[edit]

InRussian Empire the name of the letter, glagol' was an informal reference to the Γ-shaped gallows:

Кругом пустыня, дичь и голь,

А в стороне торчит глаголь,

И на глаголе том два тела

Висят. Закаркав, отлетела

Ватага чёрная ворон,...

[All around there is desert, game and bareness... And a glagol' sticks out on the side, And on that glagol' two bodies hang. The gang of black crows croaked and flew off..]

Alexander Pushkin, 1836^[2]

See also[edit]

• Gamma, the Greek letter Γ

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Г.

• The dictionary definition of Г at Wiktionary
• The dictionary definition of г at Wiktionary