/ˈaɪ.pə/

Russian

Family: Indo-European · Eurasia · ISO rus · Glottolog · 147,000,000 speakers
36
Consonants
6
Vowels

The phoneme inventory below shows every sound that functions as a meaningful unit in Russian — a Indo-European language spoken in Eurasia . With 42 phonemes, it has an average-sized inventory compared to the world's languages. Sounds marked with a dashed border (*) are marginal: they appear only in loanwords or highly specialized contexts and are not part of the core phonological system.

Consonants

affricate

t̪s ~

approximant

j ~

fricative

vʲ ~ f ~ fʲ ~ v ~ x ~ xʲ ~

lateral fricative

l ~ lʲ ~

nasal

n̪ ~ n̪ʲ ~ m ~ mʲ ~

sibilant fricative

s ~ sʲ ~ z ~ zʲ ~ ɕː ~ ʂ ~ ʐ ~

stop

tɕ ~ d̪ ~ t̪ ~ d̪ʲ ~ t̪ʲ ~ p ~ pʲ ~ b ~ bʲ ~ ɡ ~ kʲ ~ ɡʲ ~ k ~

tap

ɾʲ ~

trill

r ~

Vowels

u ~ o ~ i ~ e ~ a ~ ɨ ~

* Marginal phoneme — occurs only in loanwords or rare contexts.

How large is this inventory?

Smaller (11) Average (36) Larger (141)
42
phonemes

Russian has 42 phonemes, placing it in the 67th percentile of languages by inventory size — larger than most languages.

Compared to English

For English speakers learning Russian, these are the sounds that will require the most focused practice.

In Russian, not in English (31)

These sounds don't exist in English — English speakers will need to learn them from scratch.

t̪s vʲ fʲ x xʲ lʲ n̪ n̪ʲ mʲ sʲ zʲ ɕː ʂ ʐ tɕ d̪ t̪ d̪ʲ t̪ʲ p pʲ bʲ kʲ ɡʲ k ɾʲ r u o a ɨ

In English, not in Russian (34)

English speakers learning Russian won't use these sounds — they'll need to suppress them.

h n pʰ t̠ʃ w ŋ iː oː d ʊ ʃ ʒ ts d̠ʒ ɛ ɒ ɐ ð θ ɘ ɹ kx ɐː ʉː iə eə oe æe ɑe ɵː æo ɐʉ ɒɯ ʉə
Full phoneme comparison: English vs Russian →

Most phonologically similar languages

Ranked by Jaccard similarity — the proportion of phonemes shared relative to the combined inventory of both languages.

Croatian 37%
Compare →
Romanian 37%
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South Azerbaijani 36%
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Polish 34%
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Standard Malay 33%
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Compare Russian with another language

See which sounds are shared and which are unique.

vs Hakka Chinese vs SEDANG vs Kharia vs Bhumij vs Kota vs Burushaski vs Kabardian vs Lak vs Ket vs Yao