Russian Transliteration: Cyrillic to Latin
By Daily Cyrillic · Updated
The Daily Cyrillic transliterator converts Russian Cyrillic into readable Latin letters and phonetic Latin input back into Cyrillic. Paste or type your text, choose a direction and copy the result. Conversion runs locally in your browser. This reading aid uses its own consistent mapping; official passport or library systems may require different spellings.
Reading time: about 2 min.
- Directions
- Cyrillic ↔ Latin
- Processing
- In your browser
- Purpose
- Reading aid
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How do I use this tool?
- Choose a direction. Select Cyrillic to Latin for a reading aid, or Latin to Cyrillic for phonetic typing.
- Enter your text. Type or paste text into the input box. The converted text appears as you type.
- Copy the conversion. Check the result, then press Copy to use it in another application.
How the converter works
Type or paste Cyrillic into the left box and the Latin appears on the right as you type. Press Copy to grab the result. Switch to reverse mode to do the opposite: type Latin the way the word sounds and watch it become Cyrillic. The tool never sends your text anywhere - the conversion happens entirely on your device, so it is instant and private.
Because the rules are fixed, the output is deterministic: the same input always produces the same transliteration. That makes it reliable for names, addresses and study notes, where you want a consistent spelling rather than a guess.
Which transliteration scheme this uses
This tool uses a practical, BGN/PCGN-style romanization - the scheme most English readers actually recognize, because it is what passports, road signs and English-language news outlets use. It favors readability over strict reversibility, so the result looks the way you would expect a Russian name to be spelled in English.
A few letters are worth knowing: ж becomes zh, х becomes kh, ц becomes ts, ч becomes ch, ш becomes sh, and щ becomes the four-letter shch. The vowel е is rendered ye at the start of a word or after another vowel (so Елена is Yelena) and e elsewhere. The hard sign ъ and soft sign ь are dropped, since they have no Latin sound. The full letter-by-letter chart is below.
Reverse mode is best-effort
The Latin-to-Cyrillic direction is a convenience, not a perfect inverse. The romanization above is lossy on purpose - the same Latin letter can map back to more than one Cyrillic letter (a bare "e", for example, could be е or э) - so reverse mode makes sensible choices and matches the longest spelling first (shch before sh before s). It is great for quickly typing a Russian word phonetically, but always proofread the Cyrillic it produces.
If you need to type accurate Cyrillic rather than approximate it, use the on-screen Russian keyboard instead, which gives you every letter exactly.
Full transliteration chart
Every Cyrillic letter and the Latin it maps to in this scheme. The contextual and silent letters are noted.
| Cyrillic | Latin | Note |
|---|---|---|
| А а | a | |
| Б б | b | |
| В в | v | |
| Г г | g | |
| Д д | d | |
| Е е | ye / e | ye at word start / after a vowel, e elsewhere |
| Ё ё | yo | |
| Ж ж | zh | |
| З з | z | |
| И и | i | |
| Й й | y | |
| К к | k | |
| Л л | l | |
| М м | m | |
| Н н | n | |
| О о | o | |
| П п | p | |
| Р р | r | |
| С с | s | |
| Т т | t | |
| У у | u | |
| Ф ф | f | |
| Х х | kh | |
| Ц ц | ts | |
| Ч ч | ch | |
| Ш ш | sh | |
| Щ щ | shch | |
| Ъ ъ | (dropped) | silent (hard sign) - dropped |
| Ы ы | y | |
| Ь ь | (dropped) | silent (soft sign) - dropped |
| Э э | e | |
| Ю ю | yu | |
| Я я | ya |
FAQ
How do I convert Russian Cyrillic to English letters?
What transliteration standard does this use?
Is transliteration the same as translation?
Can I convert Latin back into Cyrillic?
How is щ transliterated?
Turn this guide into words you can use
Build a free Russian set for this topic, with examples and ElevenLabs AI audio.