Ghe with upturn facts for kids

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

The letter Ghe with upturn (Ґ ґ), also known as Ge or G, is a special letter in the Cyrillic script. It is part of the Ukrainian alphabet and the Rusyn alphabets. You can also find it in some versions of the Urum and Belarusian alphabets.

In these languages, this letter is usually called ge. The letter it often follows, ⟨Г г⟩, is called he. In computer systems, this letter is known as "ghe with upturn."

The shape of this letter comes from the letter ⟨Г г⟩. However, its handwritten and italic forms look a bit different from the italic form of ⟨г⟩.

This letter makes the sound /ɡ/, just like the "g" in the English word "go".

Ghe with upturn is usually written using the Latin letter g when converting to the Latin alphabet. Sometimes, it might be written as ġ (with a dot) or g̀ (with a grave accent).

History of the Letter Ґ

The sound [ɡ] (like the "g" in "go") was common in early Slavic languages. Most Cyrillic alphabets used the letter ⟨Г⟩ for this sound.

However, in Ukrainian, around the 1200s, the sound of ⟨Г⟩ changed. It became softer, more like the "h" sound in English. This new sound was still written with ⟨Г⟩, which Ukrainians called he.

About a century later, the harder [ɡ] sound started appearing again in Ukrainian words, mostly from words borrowed from other European languages. Since then, people have tried different ways to write this sound.

One of the first texts to regularly use the letter ⟨ґ⟩ was the Peresopnytsia Gospel in the 1500s. The letter was also used by the printer Pyotr Mstislavets in his book The Four Gospels.

The letter ⟨ґ⟩ was officially added to the Slavic alphabet in 1619 by Meletius Smotrytsky in his "Slavic Grammar" book. It was later kept in the new Ukrainian alphabet for the same purpose.

In 1933, the letter ⟨ґ⟩ was officially removed from the Ukrainian alphabet in Soviet Ukraine. This was done to make the Ukrainian language more similar to Russian. The sound it represented was then often written with the letter ⟨г⟩, which in Ukrainian is pronounced like "h".

However, Ukrainians living in Galicia (which was part of Poland until 1939) and Ukrainians around the world continued to use ⟨ґ⟩. It was brought back into use in Soviet Ukraine in 1990, just before Ukraine became independent in 1991. Studies show that the letter is now actively used in Ukraine again.

In Belarusian, the [ɡ] sound was kept in some words, especially in certain groups of letters. Some Belarusian language experts in the 1900s wanted to bring back the letter ⟨ґ⟩ to show this sound, especially in new borrowed words. But this idea was never fully agreed upon, and the letter has not become a standard part of the main Belarusian alphabet.

How Ґ is Used

In Belarusian

The letter ґ is used in a specific spelling style of Belarusian called "Taraškievica" (classical spelling). It helps to show the difference between the sounds [ɣ] (like "h") and [ɡ] (like "g").

In the past, people tried to use special letters to tell these sounds apart in Old Belarusian. For example, in 1895, A. Jelsky suggested a new sign for the [ɣ] sound. Later, in 1911, A.K. Serzhputovsky proposed the sign Ґ, ґ for the same reason. This sign was also used in a collection by Kupala in 1908 and became part of the alphabet approved by Branislaw Tarashkyevich in his grammar book. However, in 1933, the letter Ґ, ґ was removed from the Belarusian alphabet, just like it was from the Ukrainian one.

Belarusian Classical Orthography

In Belarusian classical spelling, the letter ґ is used for the [ɡ] sound, especially in foreign names. For example, Ґіём (Guillaume) or Ґасконь (Gascony).

The [ɡ] sound also appears in some Belarusian words, especially in certain letter combinations like во[зґ]ры or ма[зґ’]і. It's also found in many borrowed words such as [ґ]анак (porch) or [ґ]узік (button). This helped bring back the use of the letter ґ in the 20th century.

Sometimes, in foreign names, the [ɡ] sound is traditionally pronounced as [ɣ] (like "h") in Belarusian. But it's also okay to keep the [ɡ] sound. For example, you can say [Г]арыбальдзі or [Ґ]арыбальдзі for Garibaldi.

It's important to know that the [ɡ] sound can also appear in Belarusian when the letter к (k) is next to a voiced consonant. This change in sound is not shown in writing, so the letter к is still used. For example, in анэкдот (anecdote) or вакзал (train station).

In Ukrainian

The letter Ґ ґ in Ukrainian represents the [ɡ] sound (like the "g" in "go").

When Ukrainian words are written using the Latin alphabet, Ґ is usually written as g. The letter Г г is written as h, and Х х is written as kh or ch.

Current Orthography

§ 6. Letter Ґ

1. In Ukrainian words and words that have been used in Ukrainian for a long time, you will find ґ. Examples include а́ґрус (gooseberry), ґа́ва (crow), ґу́дзик (button), and ґрунт (soil). This also applies to words made from these, like ґрунтови́й (soil-related).

2. You will also see ґ in the names of places in Ukraine, like Ґорґа́ни (a mountain range) and У́ґля (a village). It's also used in Ukrainian family names such as Ґалаґа́н and Ґо́нта.

§ 122. Sounds [g], [h]

1. The [ɡ] sound and similar sounds from other languages (often written with 'g') are usually written with the letter г in Ukrainian. For example, генера́л (general), гра́фік (graphic), Гру́зія (Georgia), and Чика́го (Chicago).

2. However, the letter ґ is used for the [ɡ] sound in certain common words that have been borrowed a long time ago, like ґа́нок (porch), ґатунок (type/sort), ґвалт (noise/uproar), ґра́ти (bars), and ґрунт (soil). This also includes words made from these, like ґрунто́вний (thorough).

3. When it comes to names of people, you can write the [ɡ] sound in two ways. You can use the letter г to make it sound more Ukrainian (like Гарсі́я for García). Or, you can use the letter ґ to keep the original foreign sound (like Ґарсі́я). Both ways are allowed.

Form of the Letter Ґ

The cursive form of Ґ in Ukrainian

Examples of words using the letter Ґ in cursive writing.

The regular (non-cursive) uppercase and lowercase forms of the letter Ґ look similar to the letter Г г, but they have an extra line that turns upwards. The handwritten (cursive) forms of this letter are shown in the image on the left.

Related Letters

• Г г : Cyrillic letter Ge (called He in Ukrainian and Belarusian)
• Γ γ : Greek letter Gamma
• G g : Latin letter G
• Ġ ġ : Latin letter Ġ

Computing Codes

The letter Ґ has special codes for computers:

• 0490 for the uppercase letter (Ґ)
• 0491 for the lowercase letter (ґ)

These codes help computers display the letter correctly in different systems like KOI8-U, Windows-1251, and Macintosh Cyrillic.

See also

In Spanish: Ґ para niños