Psi (Cyrillic)

Psi (Ѱ, ѱ) is a letter in the early Cyrillic alphabet, derived from the Greek letter psi (Ψ, ψ). It represents the sound /ps/, as in English naps. According to the school rules developed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such as Meletius Smotrytsky's grammar book, it was intended for use in words loaned from Greek—but it was occasionally used for writing native words, for example Ukrainian ѱы (psy, “dogs”).^[1] It was used especially in words relating to the Church, as can be seen in its continuing use in Church Slavonic.

Psi was eliminated from Russian and Kazakh orthographies along with ksi, omega, and yus in the Civil Script of 1708 (Peter the Great's Grazhdanka), and has also been dropped from other secular languages. It continues to be used in Church Slavonic.

Computing codes

See also

Psi, for other meanings.

Notes

References

• Cyrillic alphabet (Кириллица) at Omniglot
• Simovyč, V. and J.B. Rudnycky, “The History of Ukrainian Orthography”, in Kubijovyč, Volodymyr ed. (1963), Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopædia, v 1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-3105-6.