The Łacinka alphabet is the variant of the Latin alphabet which was used for writing the Belarusian language. Texts using Łacinka first appeared during the 16th century. Official use ceased after Belarus was included into the Soviet Union in 1921; by the end of the Second World War its use was practically non-existent.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent independence of Belarus some groups have advocated reviving the Łacinka alphabet, but as of 2004 very few people use it.

The Łacinka alphabet developed from similar Latin alphabets in use in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which included current-day Belarus, and as such is related to the Polish and Lithuanian alphabets, although it has unique features, most notably the letter ŭ, which is found in neither of those alphabets (though it is used in Esperanto).

The Łacinka alphabet is thus:

A/a, B/b, C/c, Ć/ć, Č/č, D/d, Dz/dz, Dź/dź, Dž/dž, E/e, F/f, G/g, H/h, Ch/ch, I/i, J/j, K/k, L/l, Ł/ł, M/m, N/n, Ń/ń, O/o, P/p, R/r, S/s, Ś/ś, Š/š, T/t, U/u, Ŭ/ŭ, V/v, Y/y, Z/z, Ź/ź, Ž/ž

External links

• Belarusian "Lacinka"