Ya (Я, я) is a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet, representing the iotated vowel (IPA).

It is the 33rd and last letter of the Russian alphabet. In Russian language, the word "Я" is the personal pronoun "I". A popular saying based on this fact, "Ya is the last letter in the alphabet", is used to teach children modesty and humility. Interestingly, in Early Cyrillic alphabet the name "Az" of the first letter ("A") stood for "I".

The Cyrillic letters Я and И are used in faux Cyrillic typography.

History

Ya is actually a hybrid of two historic letters. One is A iotified (IA), a ligature of І and А, similar to letters Yu (Ю) or Iotified E (Ѥ). The other is Little Yus (Ѧ). Over time, phonetic distinction between IA and Ѧ was lost, and when Peter I introduced his "civil script" in 1708, the single letter Ya (Я) substituted for both. So, Я is a late addition to the Cyrillic alphabet. It does not exist in the Glagolitic, Greek or Latin alphabets, it has no numerical value and no name other than "Ya".

In Unicode, Я shares codepoints with IA (A iotified). The actual glyph depends on the font.

Code positions

Its HTML entity is Я or Я for capital and я or я for small letter.

Related articles

• Iotation