Interesting Historical Note — The Hard Sign ъ in Old Russian Orthography

💡 Interesting Historical Note

Before 1918: Final ъ Everywhere

Before 1918, a silent hard sign ъ was written at the end of every word that ended in a hard consonant. This was a holdover from Old Church Slavonic orthography, where the hard sign represented a very short vowel sound (a "reduced vowel" or "yer"). Over time, this vowel sound disappeared in spoken Russian, but the hard sign remained in writing as a silent letter.

1918 Orthography Reform

The final hard sign ъ at word end was abolished.
The hard sign remained in modern Russian, but with a new role: it separates prefixes from iotated vowels (е, ё, ю, я) to signal a “y” onset, e.g., подъезд (pod‑yezd), объём (ob‑yom).
The reform saved space and ink. Publishers reportedly saved pages by dropping thousands of final ъ’s per edition.

So if you spot a word ending in ъ, you’re likely looking at a historical text, a stylized logo, or Church Slavonic spelling.

Printed page from an 1896 Russian Bible showing final hard signs (ъ) at the ends of words — An 1896 Russian Bible page. Note the hard sign ъ printed at the end of many words.