ISO 9

The ISO international standard ISO 9 establishes a system for the transliteration into Latin characters of Cyrillic characters constituting the alphabets of many Slavic and non-Slavic languages.^[1]

The major advantage ISO 9 has over other competing systems is its univocal system of one character for one character equivalents (by the use of diacritics), which faithfully represents the original spelling and allows for reverse transliteration, even if the language is unknown.

Earlier versions of the standard, ISO/R 9:1954, ISO/R 9:1968 and ISO 9:1986, were more closely based on the international scholarly system for linguistics (scientific transliteration), but have diverged in favour of unambiguous transliteration over phonemic representation. The edition of 1995 supersedes the edition of 1986.^[1]

ISO 9:1995, or GOST 7.79 System A

^[2] The standard features three mapping tables: the first covers contemporary Slavic languages, the second older Slavic orthographies (excluding letters from the first), and the third non-Slavic languages (including most letters from the first). Several Cyrillic characters included in ISO 9 are not available as precomposed characters in Unicode, neither are some of the transliterations; combining diacritical marks have to be used in these cases. Unicode, on the other hand, includes some historic characters that are not dealt with in ISO 9.

The following combined table shows characters for various Slavic, Iranian, Romance, Turkic, Uralic, Mongolic, Caucasian, Tungusic, Paleosiberian and other languages of the former USSR which are written in Cyrillic.

ISO 9:1995, GOST 7.79 System A

Cyrillic		Latin		Unicode		Description
А	а	A	a
Ӓ	ӓ	Ä	ä	00C4	00E4	a diaeresis
Ӓ̄	ӓ̄	Ạ̈	ạ̈	00C4+0323	00E4+0323	a diaeresis and dot below
Ӑ	ӑ	Ă	ă	0102	0103	a breve
А̄	а̄	Ā	ā	0100	0101	a macron
Ӕ	ӕ	Æ	æ	00C6	00E6	ae ligature
А́	а́	Á	á	00C1	00E1	a acute
А̊	а̊	Å	å	00C5	00E5	a ring
Б	б	B	b
В	в	V	v
Г	г	G	g
Ѓ	ѓ	Ǵ	ǵ	01F4	01F5	g acute
Ғ	ғ	Ġ	ġ	0120	0121	g dot
Ҕ	ҕ	Ğ	ğ	011E	011F	g breve
Һ	һ	Ḥ	ḥ	1E24	1E25	h dot
Д	д	D	d
Ђ	ђ	Đ	đ	0110	0111	d macron
Е	е	E	e
Ӗ	ӗ	Ĕ	ĕ	0114	0115	e breve
Ё	ё	Ë	ë	00CB	00EB	e diaeresis
Є	є	Ê	ê	00CA	00EA	e circumflex
Ж	ж	Ž	ž	017D	017E	z caron
Җ	җ	Ž̦	ž̦	017D+0326	017E+0326	z caron and comma below[3]
		Ž̧	ž̧	017D+0327	017E+0327	z caron and cedilla[3]
Ӝ	ӝ	Z̄	z̄	Z+0304	z+0304	z macron
Ӂ	ӂ	Z̆	z̆	Z+0306	z+0306	z breve
З	з	Z	z
Ӟ	ӟ	Z̈	z̈	Z+0308	z+0308	z diaeresis
Ӡ	ӡ	Ź	ź	0179	017A	z acute
Ѕ	ѕ	Ẑ	ẑ	1E90	1E91	z circumflex
И	и	I	i
Ӣ	ӣ	Ī	ī	012A	012B	i macron
И́	и́	Í	í	00CD	00ED	i acute
Ӥ	ӥ	Î	î	00CE	00EE	i circumflex
Й	й	J	j
І	і	Ì	ì	00CC	00EC	i grave
Ї	ї	Ï	ï	00CF	00EF	i diaeresis
І̄	і̄	Ǐ	ǐ	01CF (012C)	01D0 (012D)	i caron (or breve)
Ј	ј	J̌	ǰ	J+030C	01F0	j caron
Ј̵	ј̵	J́	j́	J+0301	j+0301	j acute
К	к	K	k
Ќ	ќ	Ḱ	ḱ	1E30	1E31	k acute
Ӄ	ӄ	Ḳ	ḳ	1E32	1E33	k dot below
Ҝ	ҝ	K̂	k̂	K+0302	k+0302	k circumflex
Ҡ	ҡ	Ǩ	ǩ	01E8	01E9	k caron
Ҟ	ҟ	K̄	k̄	K+0304	k+0304	k macron
Қ	қ	K̦	k̦	K+0326	0326	k comma below[3]
		Ķ	ķ	0136	0137	k cedilla[3]
К̨	к̨	K̀	k̀	K+0300	k+0300	k grave
Ԛ	ԛ	Q	q
Л	л	L	l
Љ	љ	L̂	l̂	L+0302	l+0302	l circumflex
Л’	Л’	Ĺ	ĺ	0139	013A	l acute
Ԡ	ԡ	L̦	l̦	L+0326	l+0326	l comma below[3]
		Ļ	ļ	013B	013C	l cedilla[3]
М	м	M	m
Н	н	N	n
Њ	њ	N̂	n̂	N+0302	n+0302	n circumflex
Ң	ң	N̦	n̦	N+0326	n+0326	n comma below[3]
		Ņ	ņ	0145	0146	n cedilla[3]
Ӊ	ӊ	Ṇ	ṇ	1E46	1E47	n dot below
Ҥ	ҥ	Ṅ	ṅ	1E44	1E45	n dot
Ԋ	ԋ	Ǹ	ǹ	01F8	01F9	n grave
Ԣ	ԣ	Ń	ń	0143	0144	n acute
Ӈ	ӈ	Ň	ň	0147	0148	n caron
Н̄	н̄	N̄	n̄	N+0304	n+0304	n macron
О	о	O	o
Ӧ	ӧ	Ö	ö	00D6	00F6	o diaeresis
Ө	ө	Ô	ô	00D4	00F4	o circumflex
Ӫ	ӫ	Ő	ő	0150	0151	o double acute
Ӧ̄	о̄̈	Ọ̈	ọ̈	00D6+0323	00F6+0323	o diaeresis and dot below
Ҩ	ҩ	Ò	ò	00D2	00F2	o grave
О́	о́	Ó	ó	00D3	00F3	o acute
О̄	о̄	Ō	ō	014C	014D	o macron
Œ	œ	Œ	œ	0152	0153	oe ligature
П	п	P	p
Ҧ	ҧ	Ṕ	ṕ	1E54	1E55	p acute
Ԥ	ԥ	P̀	p̀	P+0300	p+0300	p grave
Р	р	R	r
С	с	S	s
Ҫ	ҫ	Ș	ș	0218	0219	s comma below[3]
		Ş	ş	015E	015F	s cedilla[3]
С̀	с̀	S̀	s̀	S+0300	s+0300	s grave
Т	т	T	t
Ћ	ћ	Ć	ć	0106	0107	c acute
Ԏ	ԏ	T̀	t̀	T+0300	t+0300	t grave
Т̌	т̌	Ť	ť	0164	0165	t caron
Ҭ	ҭ	Ț	ț	021A	021B	t comma below[3]
		Ţ	ţ	0162	0163	t cedilla[3]
У	у	U	u
Ӱ	ӱ	Ü	ü	00DC	00FC	u diaeresis
Ӯ	ӯ	Ū	ū	016A	016B	u macron
Ў	ў	Ŭ	ŭ	016C	016D	u breve
Ӳ	ӳ	Ű	ű	0170	0171	u double acute
У́	у́	Ú	ú	00DA	00FA	u acute
Ӱ̄	ӱ̄	Ụ̈	ụ̈	00DC+0323	00FC+0323	u diaeresis and dot below
Ү	ү	Ù	ù	00D9	00F9	u grave
Ұ	ұ	U̇	u̇	U+0307	u+0307	u dot
Ӱ̄	ӱ̄	Ụ̄	ụ̄	016A+0323	016B+0323	u macron and dot below
Ԝ	ԝ	W	w
Ф	ф	F	f
Х	х	H	h
Ҳ	ҳ	H̦	h̦	H+0326	h+0326	h comma below[3]
		Ḩ	ḩ	1E28	1E29	h cedilla[3]
Ц	ц	C	c
Ҵ	ҵ	C̄	c̄	C+0304	c+0304	c macron
Џ	џ	D̂	d̂	D+0302	d+0302	d circumflex
Ч	ч	Č	č	010C	010D	c caron
Ҷ	ҷ	C̦	c̦	C+0326	c+0326	c comma below[3]
		Ç	ç	00C7	00E7	c cedilla[3]
Ӌ	ӌ	C̣	c̣	C+0323	c+0323	c dot below
Ӵ	ӵ	C̈	c̈	C+0308	c+0308	c diaeresis
Ҹ	ҹ	Ĉ	ĉ	0108	0109	c circumflex
Ч̀	ч̀	C̀	c̀	C+0300	c+0300	c grave
Ҽ	ҽ	C̆	c̆	C+0306	c+0306	c breve
Ҿ	ҿ	C̨̆	c̨̆	C+0328+0306	c+0328+0306	c ogonek[3] and breve
Ш	ш	Š	š	0160	0161	s caron
Щ	щ	Ŝ	ŝ	015C	015D	s circumflex
Ъ	ъ	ʺ		02BA		modifier letter double prime[4]
Ы	ы	Y	y
Ӹ	ӹ	Ÿ	ÿ	0178	00FF	y diaeresis
Ы̄	ы̄	Ȳ	ȳ	0232	0233	y macron
Ь	ь	ʹ		02B9		modifier letter prime[4]
Э	э	È	è	00C8	00E8	e grave
Ә	ә	A̋	a̋	A+030B	a+030B	a double acute
Ӛ	ӛ	À	à	00C0	00E0	a grave
Ю	ю	Û	û	00DB	00FB	u circumflex
Ю̄	ю̄	Û̄	û̄	00DB+0304	00FB+0304	u circumflex with macron
Я	я	Â	â	00C2	00E2	a circumflex
Ґ	ґ	G̀	g̀	G+0300	g+0300	g grave
Ѣ	ѣ	Ě	ě	011A	011B	e caron
Ѫ	ѫ	Ǎ	ǎ	01CD	01CE	a caron
Ѳ	ѳ	F̀	f̀	F+0300	f+0300	f grave
Ѵ	ѵ	Ỳ	ỳ	1EF2	1EF3	y grave
Ӏ		‡		2021		double dagger
ʼ		`		`
ˮ		¨		00A8		diaeresis

Example

Here is an example transliteration. The text in Cyrillic is the chorus of the hymn of the Russian Federation:

Славься, Отечество наше свободное, Братских народов союз вековой, Предками данная мудрость народная! Славься, страна! Мы гордимся тобой!

Slavʹsâ, Otečestvo naše svobodnoe, Bratskih narodov soûz vekovoj, Predkami dannaâ mudrostʹ narodnaâ! Slavʹsâ, strana! My gordimsâ toboj!

GOST 7.79 System B

^[2] GOST 7.79 contains two transliteration tables.

System A

one Cyrillic character to one Latin character, some with diacritics – identical to ISO 9:1995

System B

one Cyrillic character to one or many Latin characters without diacritics

GOST 7.79 System B

Cyrillic		Roman		Note
А	а	A	а
Б	б	B	b
В	в	V	v
Г	г	G	g
Ѓ/Ґ	ѓ/ґ	G`	g`	ѓ in Macedonian, ґ in Ukrainian
Д	д	D	d
Е	е	E	e
Ё	ё	Yo	yo	in Russian and Belarusian
Є	є	Ye	ye	in Ukrainian
Ж	ж	Zh	zh
З	з	Z	z
S	ѕ	Z`	z`	in Macedonian
И	и	I, Y`	i, y`	not in Belarusian, y` for Ukrainian
Й/J	й/ј	J	j	ј in Macedonian
I	і	I, I`	i, i`	i` only before vowels for Old Russian and Old Bulgarian
Ї	ї	Yi	yi	in Ukrainian
К	к	K	k
Ќ	ќ	K`	k`	in Macedonian
Л	л	L	l
Љ	љ	L`	l`	in Macedonian
М	м	M	m
Н	н	N	n
Њ	њ	N`	n`	in Macedonian
О	о	O	о
П	п	P	p
Р	р	R	r
С	с	S	s
Т	т	T	t
У	у	U	u
Ў	ў	U`	u`	in Belarusian
Ф	ф	F	f
Х	х	X	x
Ц	ц	Cz, C	cz, с	c before i, e, y, j
Ч	ч	Ch	ch
Џ	џ	Dh	dh	in Macedonian
Ш	ш	Sh	sh
Щ	щ	Shh, Sht	shh, sht	shh for Russian and Ukrainian, sht for Bulgarian
Ъ	ъ	A`	a`, ``	two grave accents for Russian, a` for Bulgarian
Ы	ы	Y`	y`	in Russian and Belarusian
Ь	ь		`	grave accent
Э	э	E`	e`	in Russian and Belarusian
Ю	ю	Yu	yu	not in Macedonian
Я	я	Ya	уа	not in Macedonian
	’		'	apostrophe
Ѣ	ѣ	Ye	уе	in Old Russian and Old Bulgarian
Ѳ	ѳ	Fh	fh	in Old Russian and Old Bulgarian
Ѵ	ѵ	Yh	yh	in Old Russian and Old Bulgarian
Ѫ	ѫ	O`	о`	in Old Bulgarian
№		#

This standard (System B) appears to have been used in 2014 for the transliteration of street names on street signs in Moscow; its unusual appearance and non-intuitive sound values gave rise to criticism in the media.^[5]

National adoptions

The verbatim translated text of ISO 9 is adopted as an inter-state standard in the countries listed below (the national designation is shown in parentheses). Other transcription schemes are also used in practice, though.

•  Russia (GOST 7.79)
•  Armenia (GOST 7.79)
•  Azerbaijan (GOST 7.79)
•  Belarus (GOST 7.79–2000, adopted 2003-03-01)^[6]
•  Kazakhstan (GOST 7.79)
•  Kyrgyzstan (GOST 7.79)
•  Tajikistan (GOST 7.79)
•  Turkmenistan (GOST 7.79)
•  Uzbekistan (GOST 7.79)

ISO/R 9

ISO Recommendation No. 9, published 1954 and revised 1968, is an older version of the standard, with different transliteration for different Slavic languages, reflecting their phonemic differences. It is closer to the original international system of slavist scientific transliteration.

The languages covered are Bulgarian, Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Serbian and Macedonian. ISO 9:1995 is shown for comparison.

ISO/R 9:1954, ISO/R 9:1968 and ISO 9:1995

Cyrillic	1954	1968	1995	Note
А а	A a	A a	A a
Б б	B b	B b	B b
В в	V v	V v	V v
Г г	G g	G g, H h	G g	h for Belarusian and Ukrainian, g else (see table below)
Ґ ґ	Ġ ġ	G g	G̀ g̀	in Ukrainian
Д д	D d	D d	D d
Ѓ ѓ	Ǵ ǵ	Ǵ ǵ	Ǵ ǵ	in Macedonian
Ђ ђ	Đ đ	Đ đ	Đ đ	in Serbian
Е е	E e	E e	E e
Ё ё	Ë ë	Ë ë	Ë ë	in Russian and Belarusian
Є є	Je je	Je je	Ê ê	in Ukrainian
Ж ж	Ž ž	Ž ž (Zh zh)	Ž ž	see table below
З з	Z z	Z z	Z z
Ѕ ѕ	Dz dz	Dz dz	Ẑ ẑ	in Macedonian
И и	I i, Y y	I i, Y y	I i	not in Belarusian, y for Ukrainian, i else (see table below)
I і	I i	I i, Ī ī	Ì ì	not in Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian, archaic in Russian (see table below)
Ї ї	Ji ji	Ï ï	Ï ï	in Ukrainian
Й й	J j	J j (Ĭ ĭ)	J j	not in Serbian and Macedonian (see table below)
Ј ј	J j	J j	J̌ ǰ	in Serbian and Macedonian
К к	K k	K k	K k
Л л	L l	L l	L l
Љ љ	Lj lj	Lj lj	L̂ l̂	in Serbian and Macedonian
М м	M m	M m	M m
Н н	N n	N n	N n
Њ њ	Nj nj	Nj nj	N̂ n̂	in Serbian and Macedonian
О о	O o	O o	O o
П п	P p	P p	P p
Р р	R r	R r	R r
С с	S s	S s	S s
Т т	T t	T t	T t
Ќ ќ	Ḱ ḱ	Ḱ ḱ	Ḱ ḱ	in Macedonian
Ћ ћ	Ć ć	Ć ć	Ć ć	in Serbian
У у	U u	U u	U u
Ў ў	Ŭ ŭ	Ŭ ŭ	Ŭ ŭ	in Belarusian
Ф ф	F f	F f	F f
Х х	H h	Ch ch, H h (Kh kh)	H h	h for Serbian and Macedonian, ch else (see table below)
Ц ц	C c	C c (Ts ts)	C c	see table below
Ч ч	Č č	Č č (Ch ch)	Č č	see table below
Џ џ	Dž dž	Dž dž	D̂ d̂	in Serbian and Macedonian
Ш ш	Š š	Š š (Sh sh)	Š š	see table below
Щ щ	Šč šč, Št št	Šč šč, Št št (Shch shch)	Ŝ ŝ	not in Belarusian, Serbian and Macedonian, št for Bulgarian, šč else (see table below)
Ъ ъ	Ă ă, "	Ă ă, ʺ	ʺ	not in Serbian and Macedonian, archaic in Belarusian and Ukrainian, ă for Bulgarian, ʺ else (see table below)
Ы ы	Y y	Y y	Y y	Russian and Belarusian
Ь ь	ʹ	ʹ	ʹ	not in Serbian and Macedonian
Ѣ ѣ	Ě ě	Ě ě	Ě ě	not in Serbian and Macedonian, archaic else
Э э	Ė ė	Ė ė	È è	in Russian and Belarusian
Ю ю	Ju ju	Ju ju (Yu yu)	Û û	not in Serbian and Macedonian (see table below)
Я я	Ja ja	Ja ja (Ya ya)	Â â	not in Serbian and Macedonian (see table below)
’	", ’	″	’	in Belarusian and Ukrainian, archaic in Russian, ’ in Macedonian
Ѫ ѫ	Ȧ ȧ	Ȧ ȧ, ʺ̣	Ǎ ǎ	archaic in Bulgarian (see table below)
Ѳ ѳ	Ḟ ḟ	Ḟ ḟ	F̀ f̀	archaic in Russian
Ѵ ѵ	Ẏ ẏ	Ẏ ẏ	Ỳ ỳ	archaic in Russian

Bulgarian

ъ and ѫ are not transliterated at the end of a word (where it occurred in the pre-1945 orthography).

Russian and Belarusian

ъ is not transliterated at the end of a word (where it occurred in the pre-1918 orthography).

Sub-standards

ISO/R 9:1968 permits some deviations from the main standard. In the table below, they are listed in the columns sub-standard 1 and sub-standard 2.

• The first sub-standard defines some language-dependent transliterations for Russian (ru), Ukrainian (uk), Belarusian (be) and Bulgarian (bg).
• The second sub-standard permits, in countries where tradition favours it, a set of alternative transliterations, but only as a group.

Cyrillic	ISO/R 9:1968
variant 1	main	variant 2
г	h ^(uk, be)	g
ж		ž	zh
и	y ^(uk)	i
і	i ^(uk, be)	ī
й		j	ĭ
х	ch ^(uk, be, ru)	h	kh
ц		c	ts
ч		č	ch
ш		š	sh
щ	št ^(bg)	šč	shch
ъ	ă ^(bg)	ʺ
ю		ju	yu
я		ja	ya
ѫ	ȧ ^(bg)	ʺ̣

See also

• Romanization of Russian
• List of ISO transliterations
• GOST standards

Notes

1. "ISO 9:1995: Information and documentation -- Transliteration of Cyrillic characters into Latin characters -- Slavic and non-Slavic languages". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 13 Apr 2012.
2. ГОСТ 7.79-2000: Система стандартов по информации, библиотечному и издательскому делу. Правила транслитерации кирилловского письма латинским алфавитом [GOST 7.79-2000: System of standards on information, librarianship and publishing. Rules of transliteration of Cyrillic script by Latin alphabet] (in Russian). Retrieved 13 Apr 2012. - authentic Russian version of ISO 9
3. The “informative” Annex A of ISO 9:1995 uses ISO 5426 0x52 hook to left which can be mapped to Unicode’s comma below U+0326 (while the ISO 5426 also has 0x50 cedilla which can be mapped to Unicode’s cedilla U+0327), it also uses ISO 5426 0x53 hook to right which can be mapped to Unicode’s ogonek U+0328. See for example Evertype.com’s ISO 5426 mapping to Unicode or Joan M. Aliprand’s Finalized Mapping between Characters of ISO 5426 and ISO/IEC 10646-1.
4. Evertype.com: ISO 5426 mapping to Unicode; Joan M. Aliprand: Finalized Mapping between Characters of ISO 5426 and ISO/IEC 10646-1; The Unicode Standard: Spacing Modifier Letters.
5. Москва готовится к оккупации, иначе происходящее не объяснить ("Moscow is preparing for occupation - otherwise one can't explain what goes on")
6. "Система стандартов по информации, библиотечному и издательскому делу (СИБИД), действующих в Республике Беларусь", item 55 (Sistema standartov po informacii, bibliotečnomu i izdatel'skomu delu (SIBID), dejstvuûŝih v Respublike Belarus')

External links

• Online Russian Transliterator, various systems (Russian alphabet only)
• Transliteration of Non-Roman Scripts – A collection of writing systems and transliteration tables, by Thomas T. Pedersen. PDF reference charts include ISO 9.
• Transliteration of Russian into various European languages
• CyrAcademisator Bi-directional online transliteration of Russian for ALA-LC (diacritics), scientific, ISO/R 9, ISO 9, GOST 7.79B and others. Supports Old Slavonic characters
• Lingua::Translit Perl module and online service covering a variety of writing systems. Transliteration according to several standards including ISO 9 and DIN 1460 for Cyrillic.
• (German) IDS (Informationsverbund Deutschschweiz, 2001) Katalogisierungsregeln IDS (KIDS), Anhänge, “IDS G.4: Transliteration der slavischen kyrillischen Alphabete”. Universität Zürich. URL accessed on 29-02-2012 (PDF format, in German)—ISO/R 9 1968 standardization of scientific transliteration.
• RUS1.NET — 1:1 (univocal) transliteration map for learners of Russian, links to free auto-translit/IME tools for chrome/Firefox.