Yu (Cyrillic)

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Yu (Ю, ю) is a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, representing either the combination /ju/ (a so-called iotated vowel) or /u/ after a palatalized consonant.

Apart from the form I-O, in early Slavonic manuscripts the letter appears also in a mirrored form O-I. It is this form that is probably original, precisely displaying the Greek combination omicron-iota (οι). At the time the Greek alphabet was adapted to the Slavonic language (giving rise to the Cyrillic alphabet), this was pronounced as a Close front rounded vowel |/y/ in educated Greek speech. This digraphic representation of /y/ was so basic for speakers of Greek that the simple letter upsilon (υ) representing the same sound came to be called υ ψιλόν (y psilon) 'simple y' in contrast to 'complex' οι.

Probably in analogy to the 'iotated' letters Ѥ, ІА, Ѩ and Ѭ, which fulfilled similar functions in Slavonic, this OI ligature was soon mirrored to the modern form Ю.

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