U+04DF "ӟ" Cyrillic Small Letter Ze with Diaeresis Unicode Character

U+04DF "ӟ" Cyrillic Small Letter Ze with Diaeresis is a modified letter used primarily in the Udmurt language, where it represents the voiced alveolo-palatal affricate sound /d͡ʑ/, similar to the English "j" in "judge" but with a softer, palatalized quality. It is formed by adding a diaeresis, or two dots, above the standard Cyrillic letter Ze (з), distinguishing it in print and digital text from its plain counterpart. This character is part of the Cyrillic Unicode block and is essential for accurately writing Udmurt orthography, appearing in words where the sound differs from the basic "z" or "z'" sounds represented by other letters. Beyond Udmurt, it may also see limited use in other minority languages of Russia that adapt Cyrillic for their phonetic inventories.