Cyrillic digraphs

The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА́А̀А̂А̄ӒБВ
ГҐДЂЃЕЕ́Ѐ
Е̂Е̄ЁЄЖЗЗ́Ѕ
ИІЇИ́ЍИ̂Ӣ
ЙӤЈКЛЉМН
ЊОО́О̀О̂ŌӦП
РСС́ТЋЌУУ́
У̀У̂ӮЎӰФХЦ
ЧЏШЩЪЪ̀Ы
Ы́ЬѢЭЭ́ЮЮ́Ю̀
ЯЯ́Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈г̊ҔҒӺҒ̌
ғ̊ӶД́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆
ӖЕ̃Ё̄Є̈ԐԐ̈ҖӜ
ӁЖ̣ҘӞЗ̌З̣З̆Ӡ
И̃ҊҚӃҠҞҜК̣
к̊қ̊ԚЛ́ӅԮԒ
Л̈ӍН́ӉҢԨӇ
ҤО̆О̃Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́Ө̆
ӪԤП̈Р̌ҎС̌ҪС̣
С̱Т́Т̈Т̌Т̇Т̣Ҭ
У̃ӲУ̊Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́Х̣
Х̱Х̮Х̑Х̌ҲӼх̊Ӿ
ӿ̊ҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌Ц̈ҴҶ
Ҷ̣ӴӋҸЧ̇Ч̣Ҽ
ҾШ̣Ы̆Ы̄ӸҌ
ҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇ӬӬ́Ӭ̄Ю̆
Ю̈Ю̄Я̆Я̄Я̈Ӏʼˮ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓Д̀
Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨Ж̀
Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆԪ
І̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆К̑
К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂Л̀
ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧Н̃
ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀П́
ҦП̧П̑ҀԚ̆Р́Р̀
Р̃ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓
Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧Ꚍ̆
ѸУ̇У̨
ꙋ́Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇Х̧
Х̾Х̓һ̱ѠѼѾ
Ц̀Ц́Ц̓Ꚏ̆
Ч́Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓
ԬꚆ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀Ш̆
Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆Ъ̄Ъ̈Ъ̈̄
Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂Я̈
Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦѪ
ѨѬѮѰѲѴѶ

The Cyrillic script family contains many specially treated two-letter combinations, or digraphs, but few of these are used in Slavic languages. In a few alphabets, trigraphs and even the occasional tetragraph or pentagraph are used.

In early Cyrillic, the digraphs ⟨оу⟩ and ⟨оѵ⟩ were used for /u/. As with the equivalent digraph in Greek, they were reduced to a typographic ligature, ⟨ꙋ⟩, and are now written ⟨у⟩. The modern letters ⟨ы⟩ and ⟨ю⟩ started out as digraphs, ⟨ъі⟩ and ⟨іо⟩. In Church Slavonic printing practice, both historical and modern, ⟨оу⟩ (which is considered as a letter from the alphabet's point of view) is mostly treated as two individual characters, but ⟨ы⟩ is a single letter. For example, letter-spacing affects ⟨оу⟩ as if they were two individual letters, and never affects components of ⟨ы⟩. In a context of Old Slavonic language, ⟨шт⟩ is a digraph that can replace a letter ⟨щ⟩ and vice versa.

Modern Slavic languages written in the Cyrillic alphabet make little or no use of digraphs. There are only two true digraphs: ⟨дж⟩ for /d͡ʒ/ and ⟨дз⟩ for /d͡z/ (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian). Sometimes these digraphs are even considered as special letters of their respective alphabets. In standard Russian, however, the letters in ⟨дж⟩ and ⟨дз⟩ are always pronounced separately. Digraph-like letter pairs include combinations of consonants with the soft sign ⟨ь⟩ (Serbian/Macedonian letters ⟨љ⟩ and ⟨њ⟩ are derived from ⟨ль⟩ and ⟨нь⟩), and ⟨жж⟩ or ⟨зж⟩ for the uncommon and optional Russian phoneme /ʑː/. Native descriptions of Cyrillic writing system often use the term "digraph" to combinations ⟨ьо⟩ and ⟨йо⟩ (Bulgarian, Ukrainian) as they both correspond to a single letter ⟨ё⟩ of Russian and Belarusian alphabets (⟨ьо⟩ is used for /ʲo/, and ⟨йо⟩ for /jo/).

Cyrillic uses large numbers of digraphs only when used to write non-Slavic languages; in some languages such as Avar, these are completely regular in formation.

Many Caucasian languages use ⟨ә⟩ (Abkhaz), ⟨у⟩ (Kabardian & Adyghe), or ⟨в⟩ (Avar) for labialization, just as many of them, like Russian, use ⟨ь⟩ for palatalization. Since such sequences are decomposable, regular forms will not be listed below. (In Abkhaz, ⟨ә⟩ with sibilants is equivalent to ⟨ьә⟩, for instance ж /ʐ/, жь /ʒ/~/ʐʲ/, жә /ʒʷ/~/ʐʲʷ/, but this is predictable phonetic detail.) Similarly, long vowels written double in some languages, such as ⟨аа⟩ for Abkhaz /aː/ or ⟨аюу⟩ for Kirghiz /ajuː/ "bear", or with glottal stop, as Tajik аъ [aʔ~aː], are not included.