Shcha

Shcha (Щ щ; italics: Щ щ or Щ щ; italics: Щ щ), Shta, or Scha is a letter of the Cyrillic script.^[1]

Writing systemCyrillic

TypeAlphabetic

Language of originOld Church Slavonic

Sound values[ɕ], [ʂtʂ], [ʃt]

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Shcha
Щ щ
Usage
Writing system	Cyrillic
Type	Alphabetic
Language of origin	Old Church Slavonic
Sound values	[ɕ], [ʂtʂ], [ʃt]
In Unicode	U+0429, U+0449
History
Development	Ⱋ ⱋ Щ щ
Transliterations	Shch shch, Šč šč, Ŝ ŝ
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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In Bulgarian, it represents the consonant cluster /ʃt/ and is named Shta.

While in the Russian the letter ⟨щ⟩ represents the long voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative /ɕː/, similar to the pronunciation of ⟨sh⟩ in "sheep", in the Ukrainian and Rusyn, ⟨щ⟩ represents the consonant cluster /ʃt͡ʃ/ (a hard ⟨sh⟩ followed by ⟨ch⟩, as in "borscht"). This pronunciation preserves the historical character of ⟨щ⟩ as a combination of sounds, consistent with its Old Church Slavonic origins, unlike the modern Russian pronunciation.^[2] The official Ukrainian transliteration system renders the letter as ⟨shch⟩, reflecting this two-component structure.^[3] This is also reflected in Belarusian, where the letter ⟨щ⟩ was abolished in favour of the phonetic spelling ⟨шч⟩ to represent the similar sound cluster /ʂt͡ʂ/.^[4]

Most other non-Slavic languages written in Cyrillic use this letter for loanwords or foreign names; in these contexts, it is often pronounced /ʃ/, an approximation of the Russian pronunciation.^{[citation needed]}

In English, ⟨щ⟩ is romanized as ⟨shch⟩, ⟨ŝ⟩, ⟨šč⟩ or occasionally as ⟨sch⟩.^[5] English-speaking learners are often instructed to pronounce it as a cluster, although this no longer reflects the standard modern Russian phonetic realization.^{[citation needed]}