Combining Cyrillic Letter Pe

It supplies a small pe within an abbreviation. A scribe could place a letter above a word to show part of its shortened spelling. Also called pokoy-titlo, ⷫ represents pe in that system; it is not a separate word or sound.

Why did scribes put ⷫ above a word?

To shorten familiar words while leaving the omitted letters recoverable. This abbreviation practice grew in medieval Slavonic handwriting. Its documented trail reaches Moscow printing in the first half of the 17th century. Church Slavonic religious books kept these shortened spellings, including prescribed contractions for sacred names and other liturgical terms. The form also belongs to the pre-Nikonian Church Slavonic tradition preserved in Old Believer books.

How do I type ⷫ?

Enter it after the letter it belongs to. ⷫ is a combining mark: the font positions it above that preceding letter. Some Church Slavonic keyboard layouts provide it through a superscription dead key.

A covering mark called pokrytie may follow a raised letter in Church Slavonic text. The small pe alone does not show which other letters an abbreviation leaves out, so use an attested spelling when transcribing a historical word.

In 2026, specialists still reported Church Slavonic marks shifting or colliding in some typefaces. Check the whole word in a font designed for this script if placement matters.