# Zhe (Cyrillic)

The Cyrillic script :
Slavic letters :
| А | А̀ | А̂ | А̄ | Ӑ | Ӓ | Б | В |
| Г | Ґ | Д | Ђ | Ѓ | Е | Ѐ | Е̂ |
| Е̄ | Ё | Є | Є́ | Ж | З | З́ | Ѕ |
| И | І | І́ | Ї | Ꙇ | Ѝ | И̂ | Ӣ |
| Й | Ӥ | Ј | К | Л | Љ | М | Н |
| Њ | О | О̀ | О̂ | О̄ | 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 | ʼ | ˮ | |
Non-Slavic letters :
| А̊ | А̃ | Ӓ̄ | Ӕ | Ә | Ә́ | Ә̃ | Ӛ |
| В̌ | Ԝ | Г̑ | Г̇ | Г̣ | Г̌ | Г̂ | Г̆ |
| Г̈ | Г̊ | Ҕ | Ғ | | Ӻ | Ғ̌ | Ғ̊ |
| Ӷ | Г̡ | Д́ | Д̌ | Д̈ | Д̣ | Д̆ | Ӗ |
| Е̃ | Ё̄ | Є̈ | Ԑ | Ԑ̈ | Җ | Ӝ | Ӂ |
| Ж̣ | Ҙ | Ӟ | З̌ | З̣ | З̆ | Ӡ | И̃ |
| И̇ | 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 | Р̌ | Ҏ | С̌ | Ҫ | С̣ |
| С̱ | Т́ | Т̈ | Т̌ | Т̇ | Т̣ | Ҭ | Ᲊ |
| У̃ | У̌ | 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 | |
Archaic or unused letters :
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓Д̀Д̨ԂꚀꙢЕ̇Е̨Ж̀Ж̑ꙂꙄЏ̆ꚄꚄ̆ꙀЗ̀З̑ԄԆꚈԪꚂꚔІ̂І̣І̨Ј̵Ј̃ꙈК̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂Л̀ԠꙤԈЛ̑Л̇ԔМ̀М̃ꙦН̀Н̄Н̧Н̃ԊԢН̡ѺꙨꙪꙬꙮꚘꚚП̓П̀П́ҦП̧П̑ҀԚ̆Р́Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑ꚊТ̧ꚌꚌ̆ѸꙊУ̇У̨ꙋ́Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇Х̧Х̾Х̓һ̱ѠꙌѼѾꙠЦ̀Ц́Ц̓ꚎꚎ̆ꚐЧ́Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓ԬꚒꚆꚆ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆ꚖꚖ̆Ъ̄Ъ̈Ъ̈̄ꙐЫ̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆ꙒЭ̨Э̂ꙔЮ̂ꙖЯ̈Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦꙘѪꙚѨꙜѬѮѰѲѴѶꙞ :
List of Cyrillic letters
List of Cyrillic multigraphs :
vte :
Zhe, Zha, or Zhu, sometimes transliterated as Že (Ж ж; italics: Ж ж) is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It commonly represents the voiced retroflex sibilant /ʐ/ (listen) or voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, like the pronunciation of the ⟨s⟩ in "measure". It is also often used with D (Д) to approximate the sound in English of the Latin letter J with a ДЖ combination. Zhe is romanized as ⟨zh⟩, ⟨j⟩ or ⟨ž⟩.

## History

It is not known how the character for Zhe was derived. No similar letter exists in Greek, Latin or any other alphabet of the time, though there is some graphic similarity with its Glagolitic counterpart Zhivete ⟨Ⰶ⟩ (Image: ) which represents the same sound. However, the origin of Zhivete, like that of most Glagolitic letters, is unclear.
One possibility is that it was formed from the pronunciation of Hebrew letter Zayin ⟨ז⟩ combined with the Hebrew letter Shin ⟨ש⟩ letter, to eventually form the Modern Hebrew letter of Zhayin ⟨'ז⟩, with a geresh ⟨'⟩ on top for distinction.
Zhe may also be derived from the Coptic letter janjia ⟨Ϫ⟩, supported by the phonetic value (janjia represents the sound /d͡ʒ/ in Coptic) and shape of the letter, which the Glagolitic counterpart Zhivete ⟨Ⰶ⟩ resembles even more closely. The form of the letter also may be derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph depicting a drill:
It may be a ligature, formed from combining two "K" letters (one backward form) sharing a common stem.
Some Ukrainian scholars argue that it is shape of beetle, since Zhe is the first phoneme in the Slavic word жукъ (žuk), meaning "beetle".
In the Early Cyrillic alphabet the name of Zhe was живѣтє (živěte), meaning "live" (imperative).
Zhe was not used in the Cyrillic numeral system.

## Usage

Zhe is used in the alphabets of all Slavic languages using a Cyrillic alphabet, and of most non-Slavic languages which use a Cyrillic alphabet. The position in the alphabet and the sound represented by the letter vary from language to language.
| Language | Position in alphabet | Represented sound | Romanization |
| Belarusian | 8th | voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ | zh |
| Bulgarian | 7th | voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ | zh |
| Macedonian | 8th | voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ | ž or zh |
| Russian | 8th | voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ | zh |
| Serbian | 8th | voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ | ž |
| Ukrainian | 9th | voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ | zh |
| Uzbek (1940–1994) | 8th | voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ or voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ (in Russian loanwords only) | j |
| Mongolian | 8th | voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/ | j |
| Kazakh | 10th | voiced alveolo-palatal fricative /ʑ/, sometimes voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ in speech | j |
| Kyrgyz | 8th | voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ | j |
| Dungan | 8th | voiced retroflex fricative /ʐ/ | r |
| other non-Slavic languages | | voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ | |
Zhe can also be used in Leet speak or faux Cyrillic in place of the letter ⟨x⟩, or to represent the symbol of the rap duo Kris Kross (a ligature of two back-to-back letter K's).

## Transliteration

Ж is most often transliterated as the digraph ⟨zh⟩ for English-language readers (as in Doctor Zhivago, Доктор Живаго, or Georgy Zhukov, Георгий Жуков). In linguistics and for Central European readers, it is most often transliterated as ⟨ž⟩, with a háček. The scientific transliteration convention comes from Czech spelling and is also used in the Latin alphabets of several other Slavic languages (Slovak, Sorbian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene). Thus, Leonid Brezhnev's surname (Леонид Брежнев) could be transliterated as "Brežnev", as it is spelled in a number of Slavic languages. Polish uses its own convention for transliteration of Cyrillic according to which ж is transliterated with the Polish letter ż (which is pronounced /ʐ/ in Polish). Ж is often transliterated ⟨j⟩ in Mongolian because of its pronunciation as.

## Related letters and other similar characters

* Ӂ ӂ : Cyrillic letter Zhe with breve
* Ź ź : Latin letter Z with acute
* Ž ž : Latin letter Z with caron
* Ż ż : Latin letter Z with dot above
* J j : Latin letter J - the same sound in Romanian, Turkish, Azerbaijani, French, Portuguese, and Catalan
* Ʒ ʒ : Latin letter Ezh
* Җ җ : Cyrillic letter Zhje
* Ӝ ӝ : Cyrillic letter Zhe with diaeresis

## Computing codes

Character information :
| Preview | Ж | Ж | ж | ж |
| Unicode name | CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ZHE | CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ZHE | CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ZHE | CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ZHE |
| Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex |
| Unicode | 1046 | U+0416 | 1078 | U+0436 |
| UTF-8 | 208 150 | D0 96 | 208 182 | D0 B6 |
| Numeric character reference | &#1046; | &#x416; | &#1078; | &#x436; |
| Named character reference | &ZHcy; | &ZHcy; | &zhcy; | &zhcy; |
| KOI8-R and KOI8-U | 246 | F6 | 214 | D6 |
| Code page 855 | 234 | EA | 233 | E9 |
| Code page 866 | 134 | 86 | 166 | A6 |
| Windows-1251 | 198 | C6 | 230 | E6 |
| ISO-8859-5 | 182 | B6 | 214 | D6 |
| Macintosh Cyrillic | 134 | 86 | 230 | E6 |