Latin Greek Cyrillic Alphabet


For conlangers who wish to use a mixed Latin, Greek, Cyrillic alphabet for their conlang, this list shows which characters of the three alphabets do not conflict by sharing the same shapes either for upper or for lower case. Each line shows one set of letter pairs in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic alphabest that share either an upper or a lower case letter. I.e., if glyphs coincide among the three alphabets, the characters are listen on the same line, so you can compare easily.

This list currently only contains basic characters -- all alphabets (to a lesser extent Greek) have a lot of additional special characters and ligatures that might also be interesting. I will probably include these in a future version of this list.

The list only contains letters that come in upper/lower case pairs (with the exception of ß, whose upper case variant is assumed to be U+1E9E).

Letters not basic Latin, Greek, or Russian will be highlighted (basic letters are letters in the ranges U+0040..U+007F, U+0391..U+03A9, U+03B1..U+03C9, U+0410..U+044F).

In some special cases, non-letters are listed for comparison. These are highlighted differently.

Also note that there may be some arguments for still using letters that are on one line here, or for not using letters that are on different lines here. It depends on the degree of difference you need, on font, on shape conventions (e.g. by language (Russian vs. Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic)), and on personal preference. This list is an overview, a list for quick reference, but probably not exclusively what you need to plan your alphabet.


Basic Letters

Latin   Greek   Cyrillic   Comment
A a Α α А а
Я я
B b Β β В в
C c Ϲ ϲ С с
D d
Δ δ Б б Serbian б usually looks exactly like Greek δ.
Ƃ ƃ Alternative if Cyrillic б is too close to Greek δ
Д д Serbian italic д looks like some fonts' Latin g, but Russian italic д usually does not. In cursive, Cyrillic Д and д look like Latin D and g, resp.
E e Ε ε Е е
Ɛ ɛ Alternative for Greek Ε/ε for a distinct upper case variant
Э э
F f Ϝ ϝ
Φ φ Ф ф
G g
Γ γ Г г Cyrillic г is very close to Latin r
Ɣ ɣ Alternative for a distinctive uppercase variant
H h Η η Н н
Һ һ Alternative for a distinctive uppercase variant
I i Ι ι І і
Ɩ ɩ Alternative for Greek Ι/ι for a distinct upper case variant (still quite similar)
И и Russian italic and cursive и usually looks like Latin u, but Serbian italic and cursive и usually does not.
Ы ы Interferes with the sequence ЬI (and similar).
J j Ј ј
Ь ь Uppercase Ь is quite close to lowercase b.
K k Κ κ К к the style of Cyrillic К matches that of Ж unlike K and Κ
L l
Λ λ
Л л
M m Μ μ М м
N n Ν ν
O o Ο ο О о
Ω ω Ѡ ѡ
P p Ρ ρ Р р
Π π П п Russian italic and cursive п usually looks like Latin n, but Serbian italic and cursive п usually does not.
Ψ ψ Ѱ ѱ
Q q
R r r is very similar to г
Ʀ ʀ Alternative for a distinctive 'r' variant. You might still want R instead of Ʀ.
S s Ѕ ѕ
Ʃ ʃ Σ σ
Ж ж
Ш ш
Щ щ
T t Τ τ Т т Russian italic and cursive т usually looks like Latin m, but Serbian italic and cursive т usually does not.
Ц ц
Ч ч
Þ þ Ϸ ϸ
Θ θ Ѳ ѳ
U u
Ю ю
V v
W w
Ъ ъ
X x Χ χ Х х
Ξ ξ
Y y Υ υ У у Cursive υ may look like u.
Ʋ ʋ Alternative for Greek Υ,υ different from Y,y
Ү ү Alternative for Latin Y,y different from У,у
Z z Ζ ζ
З з

Extended Letters

These are non-basic letters without diacritics.

Latin   Greek   Cyrillic   Comment
Ƌ ƌ
Є є Lower case may be the same as Greek Ε/ε in some fonts.
Ǝ ǝ Ə ə Ә ә
Ҩ ҩ
Ɔ ɔ
Ƣ ƣ
Ȣ ȣ
Џ џ
Ҽ ҽ
Ƨ ƨ
Ȝ ȝ
Ʒ ʒ Ӡ ӡ
Ƹ ƹ
Ɯ ɯ
Ʊ ʊ
Ʌ ʌ
Ƽ ƽ
Ɂ ɂ

Archaic/Historic Letters

These are non-basic letters without diacritics.

Latin   Greek   Cyrillic   Comment
Ѣ ѣ
Ѥ ѥ
Ѧ ѧ
Ѩ ѩ
Ѫ ѫ
Ѭ ѭ
Ѯ ѯ
Ѻ ѻ Similar to O/o and Ο/ο.
Ѵ ѵ Similar to V/v.
Ϟ ϟ
Ϙ ϙ
Ϛ ϛ Ҁ ҁ Similar to Ç/ç.
Ϡ ϡ
Ƿ ƿ

Letters with Modifications

Latin   Greek   Cyrillic   Comment
Ґ ґ
Ҕ ҕ
Җ җ
Ҙ ҙ
Қ қ
Ҡ ҡ
...

Letters with Diacritics

Latin   Greek   Cyrillic   Comment
Ғ ғ Similar to F. In some fonts it may be the same.
...

Ligatures

This section contains ligatures, double letters, those that once were ligatures or double letters, and those that look as if they were ligatures or double letters. And anything vaguely related, too.

Latin   Greek   Cyrillic   Comment
Æ æ
DZ Dz dz Interferes with the sequence d+z.
Ƕ ƕ
IJ ij Interferes with the sequence i+j.
LJ Lj Interferes with the sequence l+j.
NJ Nj nj Interferes with the sequence n+j.
Œ œ
Ѹ ѹ
ß

Content

Index

June 1st, 2011
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