Overview
De is the fifth letter of most Cyrillic alphabets and is written as uppercase Д and lowercase д. It usually denotes the voiced dental or alveolar stop, transcribed as [d] in the International Phonetic Alphabet. In many modern Cyrillic orthographies (Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian and others) it plays the same basic phonemic role as the Latin D.
Form and typography
The letter descends from the Greek delta and inherited its basic consonantal value. In upright printed type the lowercase д often appears as a two-part shape; in italic type and in handwriting it commonly simplifies to a single-storey form that can resemble a Latin "g" or a cursive loop. Unicode encodes the characters as U+0414 (Д) and U+0434 (д).
Pronunciation and phonology
Phonetically, De represents a voiced stop [d]. In languages such as Russian it contrasts with a palatalized counterpart [dʲ] before front vowels (e.g., день "day"). Standard phonological processes affect it: final devoicing in some contexts, and regressive voicing assimilation that can make /d/ become voiceless before voiceless consonants.
Uses and examples
- Russian: дом (dom) "house" — initial Д = [d]
- Russian: день (denʹ) "day" — palatalized Д = [dʲ]
- Across Slavic and non‑Slavic languages using Cyrillic the letter maps to similar /d/ sounds or adapted values in loan transcription.
Historically its Old Church Slavonic name was добро (dobro), appearing in early Cyrillic alphabets and acrophonic naming systems. Today it remains a core consonant symbol in Cyrillic orthographies, with shape and articulation adapting to typefaces and local phonetic rules.