ъ is a hard sign

In Russian there are a couple tricky letters that don't ever begin a word. This one (ъ), which looks like ъ in handwriting, is called a tvyordi znak (твёрдыи знак), which means "hard sign." It creates a separation in the word, but has no sound of its own. I can see why my cousin says we should get rid of it...

Note: This letter has some interesting cultural/historical connotations. As I tried to blithely and obliquely convey at the end, the early Bolshevik government that was coming into power at the time of the Yozhins called for the abolition of ъ at the end of words -- one could say that the Civil War had a spelling front (specifically the enforcement of the spelling reforms of 1918). Later, it slowly began to be used again (though not often) within words, and in post-Soviet Russian may even be found at the end of a word, either ironically or to evoke a sense of conservative values. Fascinating!