Soft sign

Soft Sign (Ь, ь) is a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet (Russian: мягкий знак (mĭahkij znak) [mʲȧçkʲə: znak], Ukrainian: м’який знак (mjakyj znak) [mjakɪi̯ znak], Belorussian: мяккі знак (miakki znak) [mʲakʲ:i znak]). It is named so because it usually indicates softening, or palatalization, of the preceding consonant or of the group of them.

See also: hard sign