ы

See also: Ы, ꙑ, -ы, and Appendix:Variations of "i"

ы U+044B, ы CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER YERU ← ъ [U+044A] Cyrillic ь → [U+044C]

Ossetian

Cyrillic letter Ы ы (Ы ы), normal above, italics below.

Handwritten forms

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /ɨ/

Letter

ы • (y) (upper case Ы)

1. The thirty-fourth letter of the Ossetian alphabet

See also

• (Cyrillic-script letters) А а (A a), Ӕ ӕ (Æ æ), Б б (B b), В в (V v), Г г (G g), Гъ гъ (Ǧ ǧ), Д д (D d), Дж дж (Ǵ ǵ), Дз дз (Ʒ ʒ), Е е (E e), З з (Z z), И и (I i), Й й (J j), К к (K k), Къ къ (K’ k’), Л л (L l), М м (M m), Н н (N n), О о (O o), П п (P p), Пъ пъ (P’ p’), Р р (R r), С с (S s), Т т (T t), Тъ тъ (Tʺ t’), У у (U u), Ф ф (F f), Х х (X x), Хъ хъ (Q q), Ц ц (C c), Цъ цъ (C’ c’), Ч ч (Ḱ ḱ), Чъ чъ (Ḱ’ ḱ’), Ы ы (Y y)

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Russian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɨ]

Etymology 1

Like many Cyrillic letters, originally the letter "y"/"yery" was formed from a ligature: "ꙑ", formed from "ъ" and "і" (formerly written either dotless or with two dots (see "ї")) or "и", whose former letterform resembled "н". In medieval manuscripts, it is almost always found as "ъі" or "ъи". Once the letters "ъ" and "ь" subsequently lost their values as vowels in the Slavic languages, the current simplified form "ы" evolved.

Letter

ы • (y) (lower case, upper case Ы)

1. The twenty-ninth letter of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. Its name is ы (y) or еры́ (jerý) (obsolete), pronounced as [ɨ] (close central unrounded vowel) - it is a vowel that is somewhat like the i in bill with the tongue retracted. It is preceded by Ъ () and followed by Ь (ʹ) in the Russian alphabet.

Noun

ы • (y) n inan (indeclinable)

1. The Cyrillic letter Ы (Y), ы (y).

Further reading

• Wikipedia article on the Cyrillic alphabet
• Search en.wiktionary.org for articles beginning with: Ы, ы
• Close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/ in Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Interjection

ы • (y)

1. (Internet slang) lol, used to express laughter. Usually used as "ы-ы-ы", to show the crying sound you make after you were laughing for too long.
2. (Internet slang) ы? as a closing clause: Understand? Agree?