Shcha

This article does not cite any sources. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (February 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Cyrillic letter Shcha
Phonetic usage:	[ɕ], [ʃtʃ], [ʃt]
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
А Б В Г Ґ Д Ђ Ѓ Е Ѐ Ё Є Ж З З́ Ѕ И Ѝ Й І Ї Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О Ō П Р С С́ Т Ћ Ќ У Ӯ Ў Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш Щ Ъ Ы Ь Э Ю Я
Non-Slavic letters
А́ Ӑ А̄ А̊ А̃ Ӓ Ӓ̄ Ӕ Ә Ә́ Ә̃ Ӛ Ғ Г̑ Ҕ Ӻ Ӷ Д̆ Ӗ Е̄ Е̃ Ё̄ Є̈ Ӂ Җ Ӝ Ҙ Ӟ Ԑ Ԑ̈ Ӡ Ӣ И̃ Ҋ Ӥ Қ Ӄ Ҡ Ҟ Ҝ Ԛ Ӆ Ԯ Ԓ Ӎ Ӊ Ң Ԩ Ӈ Ҥ О̆ О̃ Ӧ Ө Ө̄ Ӫ Ҩ Ԥ Р̌ Ҏ Ҫ Ҭ У̃ Ӱ Ӳ Ү Ү́ Ұ Х̑ Ҳ Ӽ Ӿ Һ Ԧ Ҵ Ҷ Ӵ Ӌ Ҹ Ҽ Ҿ Ы̆ Ы̄ Ӹ Ҍ Э̆ Э̄ Э̇ Ӭ Ӭ́ Ӭ̄ Ю̆ Ю̈ Ю̄ Я̆ Я̄ Я̈ Ԝ Ӏ
Archaic letters
Ꙁ Ꙃ Ꙅ Ꙇ Ꙉ Ҁ Ѻ ОУ Ꙋ Ѡ Ѽ Ꙍ Ѿ Ꙏ Ѣ Ꙑ Ꙓ Ꙕ Ꙗ Ѥ Ѧ Ꙙ Ѫ Ꙛ Ѩ Ꙝ Ѭ Ѯ Ѱ Ѳ Ѵ Ѷ Ԙ Ꙟ Ꙡ Ꙣ Ꙥ Ꙧ Ꙩ Ꙫ Ꙭ ꙮ Ꚙ Ꚛ Ԁ Ԕ Ԗ Ԡ Ԣ Ҧ Ꚋ Ꚁ Ꚅ Ꚍ Ꚕ Ꚏ Ꚗ Ꚃ Ԃ Ԅ Ԉ Ԋ Ԍ Ԏ Ԇ Ꚑ Ꚉ Ꚇ Ꚓ Ԟ Ԫ Ԭ Г̧ Г̄
List of Cyrillic letters Cyrillic digraphs
v t

Shcha (Щ щ; italics: Щ щ), Shta or Sha with descender is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Russian, it represents the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative /ɕ(ː)/, similar to the pronunciation of ⟨sh⟩ in sheep (but longer). In Ukrainian and Rusyn, it represents the consonant cluster /ʃt͡ʃ/. In Bulgarian, it represents the consonant cluster /ʃt/. Other non-Slavic languages written in Cyrillic use this letter to spell the few loanwords that use it or foreign names; it is usually pronounced /ʃ/ and is often omitted when teaching those languages.

In English, Shcha is romanized as ⟨shch⟩ or ⟨šč⟩ (with háčeks) or occasionally as ⟨sch⟩, all reflecting the historical Russian pronunciation of the letter (as a combined Ш and Ч). English-speaking learners of Russian are often instructed to pronounce it in this way although it is no longer the standard pronunciation in Russian (it still is in Ukrainian and Rusyn, as above). The letter Щ in Russian and Ukrainian corresponds to ШЧ in related words in Belarusian.

History[]

The Cyrillic letter Shcha was derived from the Glagolitic letter Shta Ⱋ ().

The name in the Early Cyrillic alphabet was шта (šta) and is preserved in modern Bulgarian; it is pronounced "штъ".

This letter was also used in Komi /t͡ʃ/ (harder than ч), which is now represented by the digraph тш.

Form[]

The form of the letter Shcha is the letter Cyrillic Sha (Ш ш) with a descender (cf. the Cyrillic letters De (Д д), Tse (Ц ц), Ka with descender (Қ қ), and En with descender (Ң ң).

Related letters and other similar characters[]

• Ш ш : Cyrillic letter Sha
• С́ с́ : Montenegrin Cyrillic letter Sje

Computing codes[]

External links[]

• The dictionary definition of Щ at Wiktionary
• The dictionary definition of щ at Wiktionary