El (Cyrillic) facts for kids

Cyrillic letter El
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 El (Л, л) is the eleventh letter in the Cyrillic alphabet. It makes the "l" sound, like in the English word "light." This letter comes from the ancient Greek alphabet and is similar to the Greek letter lambda. It also looks a lot like the letter L in the Latin alphabet, which is the alphabet we use for English.

You might notice that El (Л) looks a bit like another Cyrillic letter called Pe (П). The main difference is that El has a curved left leg, while Pe has straight legs, making it look like a goalpost!

What is the Cyrillic Alphabet?

The Cyrillic alphabet is a writing system used for many languages, especially in Eastern Europe and Asia. It was created a long time ago, in the 9th century, to help people read and write religious texts. Today, languages like Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, and Bulgarian all use the Cyrillic alphabet.

How El is Used

The letter El is very important in many Cyrillic languages. It usually makes a sound similar to the "l" in "love" or "light." However, just like in English, sometimes letters can have slightly different sounds depending on where they are in a word.

For example, in Russian, the letter El can sometimes sound "hard" or "soft."

• A hard El sounds like the "l" in "ball."
• A soft El sounds more like the "ly" in "lovely," almost like there's a tiny "y" sound after it. This soft sound is often shown by adding a special mark called a "soft sign" (ь) after the El.

El's History and Family

The Cyrillic letter El has a long history. It developed from the Greek letter Lambda, which looks like a triangle without a bottom line (Λ). The ancient Greeks used Lambda in their writing thousands of years ago.

When the Cyrillic alphabet was created, its designers borrowed many letters from the Greek alphabet. This is why El looks so similar to Lambda and also to our Latin letter L. It shows how different alphabets are often connected and have influenced each other over time.

Related pages

• Lambda (letter)
• L
• Pe (Cyrillic)

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