Yo (Cyrillic) Facts for Kids

The letter Yo (Ё, ё) is a special letter in the Cyrillic alphabet. It is used in languages like Russian and Belarusian. This letter helps people pronounce words correctly. It also helps avoid confusion between words that look similar but have different meanings.

Cyrillic letter Yo

Cyrillic alphabet
А	Б	В	Г	Ґ	Д	Ђ
Ѓ	Е	Ѐ	Ё	Є	Ж	З
Ѕ	И	Ѝ	І	Ї	Й	Ј
К	Л	Љ	М	Н	Њ	О
П	Р	С	Т	Ћ	Ќ	У
Ў	Ф	Х	Ц	Ч	Џ	Ш
Щ	Ъ	Ы	Ь	Э	Ю	Я
Non-Slavic letters
Ӑ	Ӓ	Ә	Ӛ	Ӕ	Ғ	Ҕ
Ӻ	Ӷ	Ԁ	Ԃ	Ӗ	Ӂ	Җ
Ӝ	Ԅ	Ҙ	Ӟ	Ԑ	Ӡ	Ԇ
Ӣ	Ҋ	Ӥ	Қ	Ӄ	Ҡ	Ҟ
Ҝ	Ԟ	Ԛ	Ӆ	Ԓ	Ԡ	Ԉ
Ԕ	Ӎ	Ӊ	Ң	Ӈ	Ҥ	Ԣ
Ԋ	Ӧ	Ө	Ӫ	Ҩ	Ҧ	Ҏ
Ԗ	Ҫ	Ԍ	Ҭ	Ԏ	Ӯ	Ӱ
Ӳ	Ү	Ұ	Ҳ	Ӽ	Ӿ	Һ
Ҵ	Ҷ	Ӵ	Ӌ	Ҹ	Ҽ	Ҿ
Ӹ	Ҍ	Ӭ	Ԙ	Ԝ	Ӏ
Old letters
Ҁ	Ѻ	ОУ	Ѡ	Ѿ	Ѣ	Ꙗ
Ѥ	Ѧ	Ѫ	Ѩ	Ѭ	Ѯ	Ѱ
Ѳ	Ѵ	Ꙟ
List of Cyrillic letters
Cyrillic digraphs

The Letter Yo
Images for kids
See also

The Letter Yo

What is Yo?

The letter Yo looks like the letter "E" but has two dots above it. These dots are called a diaeresis or umlaut. Yo makes a sound like "yo" at the start of a word. For example, in the Russian word "ёж" (yozh), which means "hedgehog".

When Yo is in the middle or end of a word, it often makes a soft "yo" sound. This happens after a soft consonant. For example, in the word "мёд" (myod), meaning "honey". The letter Yo helps show that the consonant before it is soft.

A Bit of History

The letter Yo was first suggested a long time ago. In 1783, Princess Yekaterina Dashkova proposed creating this new letter. She was a very smart and important woman in Russia. She was also the head of the Russian Academy.

It took some time for Yo to become widely used. It was officially adopted into the Russian alphabet in the early 20th century. However, even today, people sometimes skip the two dots when writing. This can make reading a bit tricky.

Why is Yo Special?

Yo is important because it helps tell words apart. Sometimes, two words look exactly the same if the dots on Yo are missing. But they have completely different meanings.

For example, the word "все" (vse) means "all". But if it had the dots, "всё" (vsyo) means "everything". Another example is "узнаём" (uznayom), which means "we learn". Without the dots, "узнаем" (uznayem) means "we will learn". These small dots make a big difference in meaning and pronunciation.

When Yo is Missing

Because the dots are often left out, it can be hard to know how to pronounce a word. It can also be hard to understand its exact meaning. This is especially true for people learning Russian. It can also be confusing for native speakers.

Sometimes, the context of the sentence helps. But other times, it can lead to misunderstandings. This is why many people believe Yo should always be written with its dots.

Yo in Other Languages

Besides Russian, the letter Yo is also used in the Belarusian alphabet. It is also found in some other languages that use the Cyrillic script. These include languages spoken in parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus. In these languages, Yo also helps with specific sounds and pronunciations.

Images for kids

Princess Yekaterina Dashkova proposed the creation of ё

Yo (Cyrillic) facts for kids

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