Editing Shcha (section)

{{short description|Cyrillic letter}}
{{For|the latin-script tetragraph|Shch}}
{{distinguish|Schwa{{!}}schwa (ə)}}
{{Infobox grapheme
| script = [[Cyrillic]]
| type = [[Alphabet]]
| typedesc = ic
| name = Shcha
| image = Cyrillic letter Shcha - uppercase and lowercase.svg
| imagealt = 
| phonemes = [{{IPA link|ɕ}}], [{{IPA link|ʃ}}{{IPA link|tʃ}}], [{{IPA link|ʃ}}{{IPA link|t}}]
| number = 
| fam1 = Ⱋ ⱋ
| equivalents = Shch shch, Šč šč, Ŝ ŝ
| letter = Щ щ
| language = [[Old Church Slavonic]]
| unicode = U+0429, U+0449
}}
[[File:Азбука_красноармейца._Щ.jpg|thumb|''Shcha'', from the ''Alphabet Book оf the Red Army Soldier'' (1921). The illustration depicts {{lang|ru|щук}} (''shchuk''), "[[pike (fish)|pike]]".]]
'''Shcha''' (Щ&nbsp;щ; italics: <span style="font-family: times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: larger">''Щ&nbsp;щ''</span>), '''Shta''', or '''Scha''' is a letter of the [[Cyrillic script]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cyrillic script |url=https://omniglot.com/writing/cyrillic.htm |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=omniglot.com}}</ref> In [[Russian language|Russian]], it represents the [[Length (phonetics)|long]] [[voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative]] {{IPA|/ɕː/}}, similar to the pronunciation of '''one''' of the {{angbr|sh}}s in ''Wel'''sh'''''-'''''sh'''eep''. In [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]], it represents the consonant cluster {{IPA|/ʃt͡ʃ/}}, something like ''ca'''sh-ch'''est''. In [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], it represents the consonant cluster {{IPA|/ʃt/}}, like the pronunciation of “scht” in [[Borscht]]. Most other non-Slavic languages written in Cyrillic use this letter to spell the few loanwords that use it or foreign names; it is usually pronounced {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, an approximation of the Russian pronunciation of the letter, and is often omitted when teaching those languages.

In English, Russian Shcha is [[Romanization of Russian|romanized]] as {{angbr|shch}}, {{angbr|ŝ}}, {{angbr|šč}} or occasionally as {{angbr|sch|}}, all reflecting the historical Russian pronunciation of the letter (as a combined ''Ш'' and ''Ч'').<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maier |first=Ingrid |date=2021 |title=Russian Pronunciation Rules in the Alphabetum Russarum (Stockholm, Peter van Selow) |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-462754 |journal=Slovo: Journal of Slavic Languages, Literatures and Cultures |volume=62 |pages=39–60}}</ref> English-speaking learners of Russian are often instructed to pronounce it in this way although it is no longer the standard pronunciation in Russian (it still is in Ukrainian and Rusyn, as above). The letter Щ in Russian and Ukrainian corresponds to ШЧ in related words in Belarusian.