U+0436 "ж" Cyrillic Small Letter Zhe Unicode Character

U+0436 "ж" Cyrillic Small Letter Zhe is a distinctive letter in the Cyrillic alphabet, representing the voiced retroflex sibilant sound similar to the "s" in "measure" or the "j" in "jeopardy" in English. It is the eighth letter in the Russian alphabet and is also used in many other Cyrillic-based writing systems, including Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian. Visually, its shape resembles an insect or a stylized asterisk, consisting of a vertical stem with symmetrical curves or hooks on both sides. This character is derived from the Glagolitic alphabet and has a corresponding uppercase form, "Ж" (U+0416), which appears at the start of sentences or proper nouns.