a. [f. the proper name Cyril (Cyrill-us) + -IC. In mod.F. cyrillique.] Applied to the alphabet employed by the Slavonic peoples of the Eastern Church, the invention of which is attributed to St. Cyril in the 9th century. The Cyrillic is distinguished from another ancient Slavonic alphabet, the Glagolitic (q.v.).
1881. Academy, 26 March, 226. The Slaves, when they became converts to Christianity, framed two alphabets, the Cyrillic and the Glagolitic.
1884. Sat. Rev., 7 June, 761/1. The Russian Government … had already forbidden the printing of Lithuanian texts in any but the Cyrillic character.
