Combining Cyrillic Letter O

It restores an omitted O in a shortened Church Slavonic word. The raised letter belongs to the word below it, and that whole word determines how to read the abbreviation. It is sometimes called an on-titlo, or word-titlo.

The practice grew from medieval handwriting: scribes shortened familiar words to save space and placed omitted letters above the line. Church Slavonic retained this convention in religious printing. The broader Cyrillic Church Slavonic tradition displaced Glagolitic around the late ninth century; the earliest known ustav manuscript is dated AD 933.

How do I type ⷪ?

Enter a Cyrillic base letter first, then ⷪ. This nonspacing mark attaches above the preceding letter, so it belongs inside a complete word. A standalone mark has no word to abbreviate.

Some Church Slavonic spellings place a covering mark called pokrytie (҇) after the raised O. A font may stack or join marks differently without changing the reading.

What if someone sends ⷪ alone?

Ask for the surrounding word before reading it. Alone, the mark shows neither its base letter nor the abbreviation it belongs to, so it cannot identify the word.