Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script (/sɪˈrɪlɪk/ sih-RIL-ik), Slavonic script or simply Slavic script is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, North Asia, and East Asia, and used by many other minority languages.
Cyrillic script
Earliest variants exist c. 893[1] – c. 940
Left-to-right 
- Proto-Sinaitic
- Phoenician
- Greek script augmented by Glagolitic
- Early Cyrillic script
- Cyrillic script
- Early Cyrillic script
- Greek script augmented by Glagolitic
- Phoenician
Cyrl (220), Cyrillic Cyrs (Old Church Slavonic variant)
Cyrillic
- U+0400–U+04FF Cyrillic
- U+0500–U+052F Cyrillic Supplement
- U+2DE0–U+2DFF Cyrillic Extended-A
- U+A640–U+A69F Cyrillic Extended-B
- U+1C80–U+1C8F Cyrillic Extended-C
- U+1E030–U+1E08F Cyrillic Extended-D
As of 2019, around 250 million people in Eurasia use Cyrillic as the official script for their national languages, with Russia accounting for about half of them.[6] With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, Cyrillic became the third official script of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek alphabets.[7]
The Early Cyrillic alphabet was developed during the 9th century AD at the Preslav Literary School in the First Bulgarian Empire during the reign of Tsar Simeon I the Great, probably by the disciples of the two Byzantine brothers Cyril and Methodius, who had previously created the Glagolitic script. Among them were Clement of Ohrid, Naum of Preslav, Angelar, Sava and other scholars.[8][9][10][11] The script is named in honor of Saint Cyril.
Etymology[edit]
Since the script was conceived and popularised by the Slavic followers of Cyril and Methodius, rather than by Cyril and Methodius themselves.[12] Its name denotes homage rather than authorship.[13]