| U | |
| Letter: | U u |
| Script: | Latin script |
| Type: | Alphabet |
| Typedesc: | ic |
| Language: | Latin |
| No Unicode Code: | yes |
| Alphanumber: | 21 |
| Fam1: | |
| Usageperiod: | 1386 - present |
| Direction: | Left-to-right |
U, or u, is the twenty-first letter and the fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is u (pronounced), plural ues.[1] [2]
In English, the name of the letter is the "long U" sound, pronounced . In most other languages, its name matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables.
In Greek, two letters were adapted from the Phoenician waw. The letter was adapted, but split in two, with Digamma or wau being adapted to represent pronounced as /link/, and the second one being Upsilon, which was originally adapted to represent pronounced as /link/, later fronted, becoming pronounced as /link/.
In Latin, a stemless variant shape of the upsilon was borrowed in early times as U, taking the form of modern-day Veither directly from the Western Greek alphabet or from the Etruscan alphabet as an intermediaryto represent the same pronounced as /link/ sound, as well as the consonantal pronounced as /link/, numoriginally spelled NVMwas pronounced pronounced as //num// and via was pronounced pronounced as /la/. From the 1st century AD on, depending on Vulgar Latin dialect, consonantal pronounced as /link/ developed into pronounced as /link/ (kept in Spanish), then later to pronounced as /link/.
During the late Middle Ages, two minuscule forms developed, which were both used for pronounced as /link/ or the vowel pronounced as /link/. The pointed form (v) was written at the beginning of a word, while a rounded form (u) was used in the middle or end, regardless of sound. So whereas 'valour' and 'excuse' appeared as in modern printing, 'have' and 'upon' were printed 'haue' and 'vpon', respectively. The first recorded use of (u) and (v) as distinct letters is in a Gothic alphabet from 1386, where (v) preceded (u). Printers eschewed capital (U) in favor of (V) into the 17th century and the distinction between the two letters was not fully accepted by the French Academy until 1762.[3] [4] The rounded variant became the modern-day version of U and its former pointed form became V.
| Afrikaans | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|---|---|
| [5] (pinyin) | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Danish | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Dutch | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| English | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as //juː//, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as //jʊə//, pronounced as //ʊə//, pronounced as /link/, silent | |
| Esperanto | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Faroese | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| French | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| German | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Icelandic | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Indonesian[6] | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Italian | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Japanese (Hepburn) | pronounced as /link/, silent | |
| Lithuanian | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Low German | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Malay | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Norwegian | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Portuguese | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Spanish | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Swedish | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | |
| Turkish | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Welsh | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ |
In English, the letter has four main pronunciations. There are "long" and "short" pronunciations. Short (u), found originally in closed syllables, most commonly represents pronounced as /link/ (as in 'duck'), though it retains its old pronunciation pronounced as /link/ after labial consonants in some words (as in 'put') and occasionally elsewhere (as in 'sugar'). Long (u), found originally in words of French origin (the descendant of Old English long (u) was respelled as (ou)), most commonly represents (as in 'mule'), reducing to pronounced as /link/ after (r) (as in 'rule'), (j) (as in 'June') and sometimes (or optionally) after (l) (as in 'lute'), and after additional consonants in American English (a do–dew merger). (After (s), pronounced as //sjuː, zjuː// have assimilated to pronounced as //ʃuː, ʒuː// in some words.)
The letter (u) is used in the digraphs (au) pronounced as /link/, (ou) (various pronunciations, but usually pronounced as //aʊ//), and with the value of long (u) in (eu), (ue), and in a few words (ui) (as in 'fruit'). It often has the sound pronounced as /link/ before a vowel in the sequences (qu) (as in 'quick'), (gu) (as in 'anguish'), and (su) (as in 'suave'), though it is silent in final (que) (as in 'unique') and in many words with (gu) (as in 'guard').
Additionally, the letter (u) is used in text messaging, the Internet, and other written slang to denote 'you', by virtue of both being pronounced .
Certain varieties of the English language (i.e. British English, Canadian English, etc.) use the letter U in words such as colour, labour, valour, etc. In American English, the letter is not used, and the words mentioned are spelled as color and so on.
It is the thirteenth most frequently used letter in the English language, with a frequency of about 2.8% in words.
In most languages that use the Latin alphabet, (u) represents the close back rounded vowel pronounced as /link/ or a similar vowel.[7]
The International Phonetic Alphabet uses (IPA|u) for the close back rounded vowel.
See main article: U (disambiguation).
um" for μm (micrometer).