Languages using Cyrillic

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This is a list of languages that have been written in the Cyrillic alphabet at one time or another. See also early Cyrillic alphabet.

Distribution of the Cyrillic alphabet worldwide. The dark green shows the countries that use Cyrillic as the one main script; the lighter green those that use Cyrillic alongside another official script.

1 Indo-European languages
2 Languages of the Caucasus
3 Sino-Tibetan languages
4 Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages
5 Mongolian languages
6 Tungusic languages
7 Turkic languages
8 Uralic languages
9 Eskimo-Aleut languages
10 Afro-Asiatic languages
11 Other languages

[edit] Indo-European languages

Indo-Iranian languages
- Indo-Aryan languages
  - Romani (in Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and former USSR)
- Iranian languages
  - Kurdish (living in former USSR)
  - Ossetic (since 18th century, modern alphabet since 1938)
  - Tajik
  - Tat (Judeo-Tat)

Romance languages
- Romanian (up to the 19th century, and a different form of Cyrillic in Moldova from 1940–89 exclusively; now Cyrillic is used in Transnistria officially and in the rest of the country in everyday communication by some groups of people; see Moldovan alphabet)
- Ladino in occasional Bulgarian Sephardic publications.

Slavic languages
- Old Church Slavonic
- Church Slavonic
- Belarusian, now almost exclusively in Cyrillic, although there was a Roman version of the language during the Polish occupation. The Belarusian Roman script was called Łacinka
- Bulgarian
- Macedonian
- Russian
- Rusyn
- Serbian, prior to 1918 Roman script was almost absolutely characterristic for the Serb Catholics, but since 1918 Roman script has been used alongside with Cyrillic even by the Orthodox Serbs. Since 1992. Cyrillic is the main script, but using Roman script is approved, too.
- Ukrainian

[edit] Languages of the Caucasus

(This group is not assumed to comprise genetically related subgroups.)

Northeast Caucasian languages:
- Avar
- Chechen (since 1938, also with Roman 1991–2000)
- Dargwa
- Lak
- Lezgian
- Tabassaran
Northwest Caucasian languages:
- Abaza
- Abkhaz
- Adyghe
- Kabardian

[edit] Sino-Tibetan languages

Chinese languages
- Dungan (since 1953)

[edit] Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages

Chukchi (since 1936)
Koryak (since 1936)

[edit] Mongolian languages

[edit] Tungusic languages

Evenk (since 1936)
Nanai
Udihe (Udekhe) (writing recently is not used)

[edit] Turkic languages

Altay
Azeri (1939–91, exclusively in Cyrillic, since 1991 officially in Roman, but in reality in everyday communication Cyrillic is used alongside with Roman script)
Balkar
Bashkir
Chuvash
Crimean Tatar (1938–91)
Gagauz (1957-1990s, exclusively in Cyrillic, since 1990s officially in Roman, but in reality in everyday communication Cyrillic is used alongside with Roman script)
Kazakh
Karachay
Karakalpak (1940s–1990s)
Khakas
Kumyk
Kyrgyz
Nogai
Tatar (since 1939; also with Roman since 2000, although not officially in Russia)
Turkmen (1940–94 exclusively in Cyrillic, since 1994 officially in Roman, but in reality in everyday communication Cyrillic is used alongside with Roman script)
Tuvan
Uzbek (1941–98 exclusively in Cyrillic, since 1998 Cyrillic is used alongside with Roman script, which was prescribed as the "future" alphabet of Uzbek)
Yakut