Russian letter: Ж ж
The letter Ж looks like a beetle and has a sound which is close to the one that beetles make - zh.
Interestingly enough, beetle in Russian is жук, i.e. starts with the letter Ж.
Ж and Ш form a pair where Ж is voiced and Ш is voiceless.
When at the end of a word or followed by a voiceless consonant, Ж sounds more like Ш.
Ж is always hard, i.e. it does not get softened by following vowels.
Writing
Printed v.1
Ж ж
Printed v.2
Ж ж
Printed v.3
Ж ж
Cursive
Ж ж
Hand-written
Ж ж
Pronunciation
Transcription
[ zh ]
How to pronounce
like s in pleasure
Pronunciation tips
When at the end of a word or followed by a voiceless consonant, Ж sounds more like Ш.
Practice with syllables
- жа
- жо
- жи
- же
- ож
- иж
- еж
- аж
Words with this letter
With stress marks
джем
Cursive / Hand-written
джем
джем
джем
Transcription / Translation
[ dzhem ]
jam
jam
Pronunciation tips
With stress marks
жа́ло
Cursive / Hand-written
жало
жало
жало
Transcription / Translation
[ zhá-la ]
sting
sting
Pronunciation tips
Unstressed О sounds like А.
With stress marks
са́жа
Cursive / Hand-written
сажа
сажа
сажа
Transcription / Translation
[ sá-zha ]
soot
soot
Pronunciation tips
Practice with a worksheet
Practice the hand-written Russian letter Ж as well as the syllables and words listed above, with this worksheet: download the worksheet.