Fita

Not to be confused with Greek theta (Θ), Latin Ə, or other Cyrillic letter Ө (Oe) and Schwa (Cyrillic).

For other uses, see FITA (disambiguation).

Cyrillic letter Fita
File:Cyrillic letter Fita.svg
Phonetic usage:	[f], [t], [θ]
Name (Early Cyrillic alphabet):	ѳита́
Numeric value:	9
Derived from:	Greek letter Theta (Θ θ)
The Cyrillic script
Slavic letters
А А́ А̀ А̂ А̄ Ӑ Ӓ Б В Г Ґ Д Ђ Ѓ Е Е́ Ѐ Е̂ Е̄ Ё Є Ж З З́ Ѕ И І І́ Ї Ꙇ И́ Ѝ И̂ Ӣ Й Ӥ Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О О́ О̀ О̂ Ō Ӧ П Р С С́ Т Ћ Ќ У У́ У̀ У̂ Ӯ Ў Ӱ Ф Х Ц Ч Џ Ш Щ Ꙏ Ъ Ъ̀ Ы Ы́ Ь Ѣ Э Э́ Ю Ю́ Ю̀ Я Я́ Я̀
Non-Slavic letters
А̊ А̃ Ӓ̄ Ӕ Ә Ә́ Ә̃ Ӛ В̌ Ԝ Г̑ Г̇ Г̣ Г̌ Г̂ Г̆ Г̈ г̊ Ҕ Ғ File:Cyrillic capital letter Ghe with stroke and descender.svg Ӻ Ғ̌ ғ̊ Ӷ Г̡ Д́ Д̌ Д̈ Д̣ Д̆ Ӗ Е̃ Ё̄ Є̈ Ԑ Ԑ̈ Җ Ӝ Ӂ Ж̣ Ҙ Ӟ З̌ З̣ З̆ Ӡ И̃ Ҋ Қ Ӄ Ҡ Ҟ Ҝ К̣ к̊ қ̊ Ԛ ᴫ Л́ Ӆ Ԯ Ԓ Л̈ Ӎ ᵸ Н́ Ӊ Ң Ԩ Ӈ Ҥ О̆ О̃ Ӧ̄ Ө Ө̄ Ө́ Ө̆ Ӫ Ԥ П̈ Р̌ Ҏ С̌ Ҫ С̣ С̱ Т́ Т̈ Т̌ Т̇ Т̣ Ҭ Ᲊ У̃ Ӳ У̊ Ӱ̄ Ұ Ү Ү́ Х̣ Х̱ Х̮ Х̑ Х̌ Ҳ Ӽ х̊ Ӿ ӿ̊ Һ Һ̈ Ԧ Ц̌ Ц̈ Ҵ Ҷ Ҷ̣ Ӵ Ӌ File:Cyrillic capital letter Che with hook.svg Ҹ Ч̇ Ч̣ Ҽ Ҿ Ш̣ ꚜ Ы̆ Ы̄ Ӹ ꚝ Ҍ Ҩ Э̆ Э̄ Э̇ Ӭ Ӭ́ Ӭ̄ Ю̆ Ю̈ Ю̄ Я̆ Я̄ Я̈ Ӏ ʼ ˮ
Archaic or unused letters
File:Cyrillic capital letter script A.svg А̨ Б̀ Б̣ Б̱ В̀ Г̀ Г̧ Г̄ Г̓ Г̆ Ҕ̀ Ҕ̆ File:Cyrillic capital letter split by middle ring Ghe.svg Ԁ Д̓ Д̀ Д̨ File:Cyrillic capital letter archaic Dje.svg Ԃ Ꚁ Ꙣ Е̇ Е̨ Ж̀ Ж̑ File:Cyrillic small letter Zhe with stroke.svg File:Cyrillic capital letter Je with inverted belt.svg Ꙃ Ꙅ File:Cyrillic small letter Dje with high right breve serif.svg Џ̆ Ꚅ Ꚅ̆ Ꙁ З̀ З̑ Ԅ Ԇ Ꚉ Ԫ Ꚃ Ꚕ File:Cyrillic capital letter Shha with Cil top.svg File:Cyrillic capital letter Shha with high right breve serif.svg І̂ І̣ І̨ File:Cyrillic capital letter byelorussian-ukrainian I with curve at bottom.svg Ј̵ Ј̃ Ꙉ К̓ К̀ К̆ Ӄ̆ К̑ К̇ К̈ К̄ Ԟ К̂ File:Cyrillic capital letter Ka with loop.svg File:Cyrillic small letter ka with ascender.svg Л̀ Ԡ Ꙥ Ԉ Л̑ Л̇ Ԕ File:Cyrillic small letter El with retroflex hook.svg File:Cyrillic small letter El Er.svg File:Cyrillic small letter Te El with retroflex hook.svg М̀ М̃ Ꙧ Н̀ Н̄ Н̧ Н̃ Ԋ Ԣ Н̡ Ѻ Ꙩ Ꙫ Ꙭ ꙮ Ꚙ Ꚛ File:Cyrillic small letter O with notch at top.svg File:Cyrillic capital letter O with notch at bottom.svg File:Cyrillic capital letter O with left notch.svg П̓ П̀ П́ Ҧ П̧ П̑ Ҁ Ԛ̆ File:Cyrillic capital letter Shha with hook.svg Р́ Р̀ Р̃ File:Cyrillic small letter split at right Er.svg Ԗ С̀ С̈ Ԍ Ҫ̓ File:Cyrillic capital letter long Es.svg Т̓ Т̀ Ԏ Т̑ Ꚋ Т̧ Ꚍ Ꚍ̆ File:Cyrillic small letter Te El.svg File:Cyrillic small letter voiceless L.svg File:Cyrillic small letter voiceless L with comma above.svg Ѹ Ꙋ File:Cyrillic capital letter script U.svg У̇ У̨ ꙋ́ Ф̑ Ф̓ Х́ Х̀ Х̆ Х̇ Х̧ Х̾ Х̓ File:Cyrillic capital letter bashkir Ha.svg һ̱ Ѡ Ꙍ Ѽ Ѿ Ꙡ Ц̀ Ц́ Ц̓ File:Cyrillic capital letter Tse with long left leg.svg Ꚏ Ꚏ̆ File:Cyrillic capital letter Cil.svg File:Cyrillic capital letter Cil with bar.svg Ꚑ Ч́ Ч̀ Ч̆ Ч̑ Ч̓ File:Cyrillic capital letter Char.svg File:Cyrillic small letter Char with high right breve serif.svg Ԭ Ꚓ Ꚇ Ꚇ̆ Ҽ̆ Ш̀ Ш̆ Ш̑ Щ̆ Ꚗ Ꚗ̆ File:Cyrillic capital letter Che Sha.svg Ъ̄ Ъ̈ Ъ̈̄ Ꙑ Ы̂ Ы̃ File:Cyrillic small letter Yeru with connecting stroke.svg Ѣ́ Ѣ̈ Ѣ̆ Ꙓ Э̨ Э̂ Ꙕ Ю̂ File:Cyrillic capital letter iotified monograph uk.svg File:Cyrillic capital letter iotified monograph uk with breve.svg Ꙗ Я̂ Я̨ Ԙ Ѥ Ѧ Ꙙ Ѫ Ꙛ Ѩ Ꙝ Ѭ Ѯ Ѱ Ѳ Ѵ Ѷ Ꙟ
List of Cyrillic letters List of Cyrillic multigraphs

Fita (Ѳ ѳ; italics: Ѳ ѳ) is a letter of the Early Cyrillic alphabet. The shape and the name of the letter are derived from the Greek letter theta (Θ θ). In the ISO 9 system, Ѳ is romanized using F grave accent (F̀ f̀). In the Cyrillic numeral system, Fita has a numerical value of 9.

Shape

In traditional (Church Slavonic) typefaces, the central line is typically about twice the width of the letter's body and has serifs similar to those on the letter Т: File:Early-Cyrillic-letter-Fita.svg. Sometimes the line is drawn as low as the baseline, which makes the letter difficult to distinguish from Д.

Usage

Old Russian and Church Slavonic

The traditional Russian name of the letter is фита́ fitá (or, in pre-1918 spelling, ѳита́). Fita was mainly used to write proper names and loanwords derived from or via Greek. Russians pronounced these names with the sound /f/ instead of /θ/ (like the pronunciation of ⟨th⟩ in "thin"), for example "Theodore" was pronounced as "Feodor" (now "Fyodor"). Early texts in Russian (and in the Russian recension of Church Slavonic) demonstrate an increasing interchangeability of Ѳ and Ф. Some scribes preferred one of the two letters and ignored the other. There existed an orthographical system to write Ѳ in an initial position and Ф elsewhere. Since the middle of the 17th century, selection between Ѳ and Ф was re-adjusted to exactly follow the Greek origin, the system still in use in Church Slavonic orthography.

Russian

In the first variant of the Petrine Russian alphabet (1707–1708), the letter Ф was eliminated and Fita became the only way to represent /f/. Later (1710) the letter Ф (with the same etymological rule of spelling Ѳ and Ф) was restored and both letters co-existed until the 1918 spelling reform, when Fita was eliminated and replaced by the letter Ef (Ф ф). Many Greek words with Theta were adopted in Russian with Te (Т т) instead of Fita (mostly through Latin or other Western European languages): теорема (theorem), атлетъ (athlete), пантера (panther), фталевый (phthalic), etc. Sometimes dual spellings/pronunciations existed: ѳеатръ/театръ (theatre), аѳеизмъ/атеизмъ (atheism), алгориѳмъ/алгоритмъ (algorithm), каѳолическій/католическій (Catholic), etc.; the variants with Fita (in modern spelling with Ф) are typically more archaic or special.

Other languages

In other languages which use the Cyrillic alphabet, Fita was pronounced /t/ and was replaced with Te (Т т). For example, the Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian version of Theodore is Тодор Todor or Теодор Teodor.

Romanian

Called thita, ⟨Ѳ⟩ is part of the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, which was used until about 1860.

Aleut

Fita is used in the Cyrillic version of the Aleut alphabet, typically in loanwords.

Related letters and other similar characters

• Θ θ/ϑ : Greek letter Theta
• Ө ө : Cyrillic letter Oe, currently used in the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tuvan, and Mongolian languages

Computing codes

Character information

Preview	Ѳ		ѳ
Unicode name	CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER FITA		CYRILLIC SMALL LETTER FITA
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	1138	U+0472	1139	U+0473
UTF-8	209 178	D1 B2	209 179	D1 B3
Numeric character reference	Ѳ	Ѳ	ѳ	ѳ

See also

• Th-fronting, pronunciation of English "th" as "f" or "v".
• Ҫ ҫ : Cyrillic letter the, which is pronounced in Bashkir and Nganasan as a voiceless dental fricative (/θ/)

External links

• File:Commons-logo.svg Media related to Cyrillic Fita at Wikimedia Commons