This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
Short vertical videos on Instagram have long become a familiar part of social media, yet the Ukrainian spelling of their name has not yet been established. In posts, you can see at least three variants: rilz, rils, and rilz. The original English Reels also appears.
If we are talking about the official name of the Instagram feature, it is best to leave Reels. When the word is used as a common name for a short video, the most justified variant according to Ukrainian spelling is rilz.
What Reels Means
The English word reel has several meanings, among which are a spool or bobbin, particularly a film reel. Related to cinema are concepts like demo reel or showreel — a short selection of video clips that showcases the work of an actor, director, or other professional.
In 2020, Instagram introduced Instagram Reels — a format for creating and viewing short videos. The official name uses the plural form Reels, while one video in English is called a reel.
In the Ukrainian language, the borrowing develops a bit differently. The word rilz is often used as the name of one video:
I published a new rilz.
The plural is formed according to the Ukrainian model:
These rilz gained the most views.
Speakers of the language stop perceiving the English -s as a plural ending and include it in the root of the borrowed word. Something similar happened with the word stories, which can also mean one publication, although the English stories is a plural form.
Why "rilz" and not "rils"
The English reels is pronounced approximately as [riːlz], so the spelling rils seems closest to the original sound. However, when assimilating foreign words, the Ukrainian language is guided not only by pronunciation.
According to the nine rule in common names of foreign origin, after d, t, z, s, c, zh, sh, ch, r before the next consonant, we usually write и, not і. In the word reels, the vowel stands after r and before l, so when adapting, we get the form rilz.
By this principle, we write other borrowings:
- stream — strim;
- screenshot — screenshot;
- trigger — trigger;
- digital — dydzhital.
Thus, if we convey the name in Cyrillic as a common borrowed word, the variant rilz best corresponds to the current spelling rules.
At the same time, this word is not yet fixed in academic orthographic dictionaries. Therefore, it is not entirely correct to assert that all other variants have already been officially recognized as incorrect. The spelling rils is very common and arose from the attempt to more accurately reproduce the English pronunciation. However, for a consistent editorial text, it is better to choose rilz.
Why not "rils" and not "rilz"
The final letter s in the word reels denotes not a voiceless sound [s], but a voiced [z]. In English, the ending -s after the voiced consonant [l] is pronounced as [z].
Therefore, the forms rils and rilz inaccurately convey the sound of the English word. They often appear due to the mechanical substitution of the Latin letter s with the Ukrainian s. However, when conveying foreign words, it is necessary to consider not only their spelling but also their pronunciation.
When is it better to leave Reels in Latin
Reels is the official name of the format in Instagram and Facebook. This is how the company Meta writes it in the names of features, sections, and advertising tools. The Latin spelling is appropriate:
- in application instructions;
- in the names of features and interface elements;
- in professional materials about advertising;
- when first mentioning the term.
For example:
Instagram Reels is a format for short vertical videos. To create a rilz, open the corresponding section in the app.
This formatting preserves the official name but allows for the convenient use of the Ukrainian form thereafter.
How to decline the word "rilz"
In spoken language, rilz is predominantly perceived as a masculine noun. Therefore, it is declined in the same way as other borrowed names of video formats:
- to record a rilz;
- to come up with a script for a rilz;
- to add music to a rilz;
- to work on a rilz;
- to tell about it in a rilz.
In the plural, the forms rilz, rilziv, rilzam, rilzami are used:
In a week, the author published three rilz. One of the rilz gained one hundred thousand views.
Such forms are already found not only in colloquial use but also in scientific publications about modern media. However, due to the novelty of the word, its declension cannot yet be considered definitively established.
If a certain form seems unnatural, the sentence can easily be restructured: script for a short video, music for rilz, publish a video in the Reels format.
So which variant to choose
For the official name of the format, it is advisable to use the spelling Instagram Reels. If the word already serves as a Ukrainian common name for a short video, the most consistent variant is rilz.
The spelling rils is closer to the English pronunciation and quite common, but it does not take into account the nine rule. The forms rils and rilz have even less basis, as the final s in the English word is pronounced as [z].
Thus:
- Reels — the official name of the format;
- rilz — the recommended adapted variant;
- rils — a common but orthographically debatable spelling;
- rils and rilz — undesirable variants.
