ћирилица
“ћирилица” (ćirilica) — Cyrillic script in Serbian. Noun, level A1. Every letter has one exact Latin twin — that is why the same word is written both ways. Six are worth learning by name: the soft dj, the soft tch, the hard j-sound, the soft lj, the soft nj and the y-glide. In a live sentence: “Пишем ћирилицом” — I write in Cyrillic. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ћ, и, р, и, л, и, ц, а.
In short
| Written in Serbian | ћирилица |
| Read in Latin letters | ćirilica |
| Translation | Cyrillic script |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- ћирилицаćirilicaCyrillic script
What it is
One of the two equal alphabets of Serbian: documents and street signs use it, while the internet and advertising lean Latin. A reader moves between the two without thinking and switches by context.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
Every letter has one exact Latin twin — that is why the same word is written both ways. Six are worth learning by name: the soft dj, the soft tch, the hard j-sound, the soft lj, the soft nj and the y-glide.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Пишем ћирилицомPišem ćirilicomI write in Cyrillic
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “Cyrillic script” in Serbian?
«ћирилица», read “ćirilica”. In a live sentence: “Пишем ћирилицом” — I write in Cyrillic. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1; written with the characters ћ, и, р, и, л, и, ц, а.
How is “ћирилица” written in Latin letters?
ćirilica. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Every letter has one exact Latin twin — that is why the same word is written both ways. Six are worth learning by name: the soft dj, the soft tch, the hard j-sound, the soft lj, the soft nj and the y-glide. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.