Tshe (or The) (Ћ ћ; italics: Ћ ћ) is a letter of the Cyrillic script, used only in the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, where it represents the voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate /tɕ/, somewhat like the pronunciation of ⟨ch⟩ in "chew"; however, it must not be confused with the voiceless retroflex affricate Che (Ч ч), which represents /ʈ͡ʂ/ and which also exists in Serbian Cyrillic script. The sound of Tshe is produced from the voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ by iotation. Tshe is the 23rd letter in the Serbian alphabet. It was first used by Dositej Obradović as a revival of the old Cyrillic letter Djerv (Ꙉ), and was later adopted in the 1818 Serbian dictionary of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić.[1][2] The equivalent character to Tshe in Gaj's Latin alphabet is Ć.[3]

Cyrillic letter Tshe (Tje)
Phonetic usage:/t͡ɕ/
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
АА̀А̂А̄ӒБВГ
ҐДЂЃЕЀЕ̄Е̂
ЁЄЖЗЗ́ЅИІ
ЇЍИ̂ӢЙЈК
ЛЉМНЊОО̀О̂
ŌӦПРСС́ТЋ
ЌУУ̀У̂ӮЎӰФ
ХЦЧЏШЩЪ
Ъ̀ЫЬѢЭЮЮ̀Я
Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
ӐА̊А̃Ӓ̄ӔӘӘ́Ә̃
ӚВ̌ԜГ̑Г̇Г̣Г̌Г̂
Г̆Г̈г̊ҔҒӺҒ̌
ғ̊ӶД́Д̌Д̈Д̣Д̆
ӖЕ̃Ё̄Є̈ԐԐ̈ҖӜ
ӁЖ̣ҘӞЗ̌З̣З̆Ӡ
И̃ӤҊҚӃҠҞҜ
К̣к̊қ̊ԚЛ́ӅԮ
ԒЛ̈ӍН́ӉҢԨ
ӇҤО̆О̃Ӧ̄ӨӨ̄Ө́
Ө̆ӪԤП̈ҎР̌С̌Ҫ
С̣С̱Т́Т̈Т̌Т̇Т̣Ҭ
У̃ӲУ̊Ӱ̄ҰҮҮ́
Х̣Х̱Х̮Х̑Х̌ҲӼх̊
Ӿӿ̊ҺҺ̈ԦЦ̌Ц̈Ҵ
ҶҶ̣ӴӋҸЧ̇Ч̣
ҼҾШ̣Ы̆Ы̄Ӹ
ҌҨЭ̆Э̄Э̇ӬӬ́Ӭ̄
Ю̆Ю̈Ю̄Я̆Я̄Я̈Ӏʼ
ˮ
Archaic or unused letters
А̨Б̀Б̣Б̱В̀Г̀Г̧
Г̄Г̓Г̆Ҕ̀Ҕ̆ԀД̓
Д̀Д̨ԂЕ̇Е̨
Ж̀Ж̑Џ̆
Ꚅ̆З̀З̑ԄԆ
ԪІ̂І̣І̨
Ј̵Ј̃К̓К̀К̆Ӄ̆
К̑К̇К̈К̄ԞК̂
Л̀ԠԈЛ̑Л̇Ԕ
М̀М̃Н̀Н̄Н̧
Н̃ԊԢН̡Ѻ
П̓П̀
П́ҦП̧П̑ҀԚ̆Р́
Р̀Р̃ԖС̀С̈ԌҪ̓
Т̓Т̀ԎТ̑Т̧
Ꚍ̆ѸУ̇
У̨ꙋ́Ф̑Ф̓Х́Х̀Х̆Х̇
Х̧Х̾Х̓һ̱ѠѼ
ѾЦ̀Ц́Ц̓Ꚏ̆
Ч́Ч̀Ч̆Ч̑Ч̓
ԬꚆ̆Ҽ̆Ш̀
Ш̆Ш̑Щ̆Ꚗ̆Ъ̄Ъ̈
Ъ̈̄Ы̂Ы̃Ѣ́Ѣ̈Ѣ̆
Э̨Э̂Ю̂
Я̈Я̂Я̨ԘѤѦѪ
ѨѬѮѰѲѴ
Ѷ
Handwritten cursive forms of Tshe

Despite being a Cyrillic letter, Tshe was also used in Latin-based Slovincian phonetic transcriptions with the same value as in Serbian.[citation needed]

Being part of the most common Serbian last names, the transliteration of Tshe to the Latin alphabet is very important; however, there are many ways to transliterate it. It is typically transliterated as ⟨ć⟩, as per the Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet or, without the diacritic, as ⟨c⟩; less frequent transliterations are ⟨tj⟩, ⟨tsh⟩, ⟨ty⟩, ⟨cj⟩, ⟨cy⟩, ⟨ch⟩ (also used for Che), and ⟨tch⟩, ⟨ts⟩ (the last one in Hungarian only, but ⟨cs⟩ and ⟨ty⟩ are more common). It looks similar to the Shha (Һ һ) but stroked.

As it is one of the letters unique to the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, and also the first letter of the Serbian word for Cyrillic (ћирилица), Tshe is often used as the basis for logos for various groups involved with the Cyrillic alphabet.[citation needed]

Other uses

The capital Tshe has seen uses in the English language as a symbol for the definitive article The—similarly to the Ampersand & At sign—due to it appearing as a ligature of the Latin script letters uppercase T & lowercase H—which are the first 2 letters of the English word The. However, unlike common symbols such as the ampersand & at sign, the use of the capital Tshe as a symbol in English is not widely known or recognized, and uppercase thorn (Þ) is often used instead.[4]

Computing codes

Character information
PreviewЋћ
Unicode nameCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER TSHECYRILLIC SMALL LETTER TSHE
Encodingsdecimalhexdechex
Unicode1035U+040B1115U+045B
UTF-8208 139D0 8B209 155D1 9B
Numeric character referenceЋЋћћ
Named character referenceЋћ
Code page 8551499514894
Windows-12511428E1589E
ISO-8859-5171AB251FB
Macintosh Cyrillic203CB204CC
ENO encoding1035000040B1115000045B

References

  • The dictionary definition of Ћ at Wiktionary
  • The dictionary definition of ћ at Wiktionary