Cyrillic Subscript Small Letter Ghe with Upturn

It marks a sound relation; the notation determines the exact reading.

Cyrillic subscripts can mark an archiphoneme: one label for sounds that merge in a context but contrast elsewhere. A 1973 Ukrainian dialect study places this mark beneath к (the k sound): ґ is the g in “go,” while г is an h-like sound made with vocal-cord vibration, paired with х (the rough h in Scottish “loch”).

An earlier print convention appears in a 1905 Serbian dialect book, where raised and lowered Cyrillic letters mark different degrees of vowel strength. Later Cyrillic phonology uses subscripts for sound categories that merge in particular contexts.