E (Е е; italics:Е е orЕ е; italics:Е е), known in Russian and Belarusian asYe,Je, orIe, is a letter of theCyrillic script. In some languages this letter is called E. It commonly represents the vowel[e] or[ɛ], like the pronunciation of⟨e⟩ in "yes". It was derived from theGreek letter epsilon (Ε ε), and the shape is very similar to theLatin letter E or another version ofE (Cyrillic).
Ye is romanized using theLatin letter E for Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Ukrainian and Rusyn, and occasionally Russian (Озеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal), Je for Belarusian (Заслаўе, Zaslaŭje), Ye for Russian (Европа, Yevropa), and Ie occasionally for Russian (Днепр, Dniepr) and Belarusian (Маладзе́чна, Maladziečna).
At the beginning of a word or after a vowel, Ye represents the phonemic combination/je/ (phonetically[je] or[jɛ]), like the pronunciation of⟨ye⟩ in "yes". Ukrainian uses the letter⟨є⟩ (seeUkrainian Ye) in this way.
Following a consonant, Ye indicates that the consonant ispalatalized, and represents the vowel/e/ (phonetically[e] or[ɛ]), like the pronunciation of⟨e⟩ in "yes".
In Russian, the letter⟨е⟩ can follow unpalatalized consonants, especially⟨ж⟩,⟨ш⟩, and⟨ц⟩. In some loanwords, other consonants before⟨е⟩ (especially⟨т⟩,⟨д⟩,⟨н⟩,⟨с⟩,⟨з⟩, and⟨р⟩) are also not palatalized, seeE (Cyrillic). The letter⟨е⟩ also represents/jo/ (as in "yogurt") and/o/ after palatalized consonants,⟨ж⟩, and⟨ш⟩. In these cases,⟨ё⟩ may be used, seeYo (Cyrillic). In unstressed syllables,⟨e⟩ represents reduced vowels like[ɪ], seeRussian phonology andVowel reduction in Russian.
Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Ukrainian and Rusyn
The letter represents the sound/jo/ (й+ө) at the beginning of words (yo represents/jɔ/) likeес (nine) andерөнхийлөгч (president), and also represents/je/ at the beginning of some words and in the middle or end of words and/e/ in Russian loanwords and transcriptions of foreign names. Finally, it represents/i/ in the volitional forms of certain verbs likeхүргэе andтэгье, etc.
In Turkic languages utilizing the Cyrillic script (such asKazakh,Kyrgyz andUzbek) and inTajik, Ye is used to represent the phonemee~ɛ, both word-finally and medially. Isolated, word-initially, or vowel-succeeding, this letter is substituted with the letterЭ. If the letter Ye occurs word-initially, isolated, or vowel-succeeding, it represents the phoneme /je/~/jɛ/. This is done in imitation of the Russian usage, as many of these languages received Cyrillic orthographies as part ofRussification in the Soviet Union.
