The glyph isn't to be confused with theIX monogram.
Zhe,Zha, orZhu, sometimes transliterated asŽe (Ж ж; italics:Ж ж orЖ ж; italics:Ж ж) is a letter of theCyrillic script. It commonly represents thevoiced retroflex sibilant/ʐ/ (listen) orvoiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/, like the pronunciation of the⟨s⟩ in "measure". It is also often used with D (Д) to approximate the sound in English of the Latin letterJ with a ДЖ combination. Zhe isromanized as⟨zh⟩,⟨j⟩ or⟨ž⟩.
It is not known how the character for Zhe was derived. No similar letter exists inGreek,Latin or any other alphabet of the time, though there is some graphic similarity with itsGlagolitic counterpart Zhivete⟨Ⰶ⟩ (Image:) which represents the same sound. However, the origin of Zhivete, like that of most Glagolitic letters, is unclear.[citation needed]
One possibility is that it was formed from the pronunciation ofHebrew letter Zayin⟨ז⟩ combined with the Hebrew letterShin⟨ש⟩ letter, to eventually form the Modern Hebrew letter ofZhayin⟨'ז⟩, with ageresh⟨'⟩ on top for distinction.
Zhe may also be derived from theCoptic letterjanjia ⟨Ϫ⟩, supported by the phonetic value (janjia represents the sound /d͡ʒ/ in Coptic) and shape of the letter, which the Glagolitic counterpart Zhivete⟨Ⰶ⟩ resembles even more closely. The form of the letter also may be derived from anEgyptian hieroglyph depicting a drill:
Some Ukrainian scholars argue that it represents the shape of a beetle, since Zhe is the first phoneme in the Slavic wordжукъ (žuk), meaning "beetle".[1]
In theEarly Cyrillic alphabet the name of Zhe wasживѣтє (živěte), meaning "live" (imperative).
Zhe is used in the alphabets of allSlavic languages using a Cyrillic alphabet, and of most non-Slavic languages which use a Cyrillic alphabet. The position in the alphabet and the sound represented by the letter vary from language to language.
Zhe can also be used inLeet speak orfaux Cyrillic in place of the letter⟨x⟩, or to represent the symbol of the rap duoKris Kross (a ligature of two back-to-back letterK's).
Ж is most oftentransliterated as thedigraph⟨zh⟩ for English-language readers (as inDoctor Zhivago, Доктор Живаго, orGeorgy Zhukov, Георгий Жуков). In linguistics and for Central European readers, it is most often transliterated as⟨ž⟩, with aháček. Thescientific transliteration convention comes fromCzech spelling and is also used in the Latin alphabets of several other Slavic languages (Slovak, Sorbian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene). Thus,Leonid Brezhnev's surname (Леонид Брежнев) could be transliterated as "Brežnev", as it is spelled in a number of Slavic languages. Polish uses its own convention for transliteration of Cyrillic according to which ж is transliterated with the Polish letter ż (which is pronounced/ʐ/ in Polish). Ж is often transliterated⟨j⟩ in Mongolian because of its pronunciation as[t͡ʃ].
