U | |
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U u | |
Usage | |
Writing system | Latin script |
Type | Alphabetic |
Language of origin | Latin |
Sound values | |
In Unicode |
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Alphabetical position | 21 |
History | |
Development | |
Time period | 1386 to present |
Descendants | |
Sisters | |
Other | |
Associated graphs | |
Writing direction | Left-to-right |
ISO basic Latin alphabet |
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Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz |
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 /ˈjuː/ ), plural ues. [1] [2] [3] [a]
In English, the name of the letter is the "long U" sound, pronounced /ˈjuː/ . In most other languages, its name matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(July 2023) |
Proto-Sinaitic | Phoenician Waw | (Western) Greek Upsilon | Latin V | Latin U |
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U derives from the Semitic waw, as does F, and later, Y, W, and V. Its oldest ancestor goes back to Egyptian hieroglyphs, and is probably from a hieroglyph of a mace or fowl, representing the sound [ v ] or the sound [ w ]. This was borrowed to Phoenician, where it represented the sound [ w ], and seldom the vowel [ u ].
In Greek, two letters were adapted from the Phoenician waw. The letter was adapted, but split in two, with Digamma or wau ⟨Ϝ⟩ being adapted to represent [ w ], and the second one being Upsilon ⟨Υ⟩, which was originally adapted to represent [ u ], later fronted, becoming [ y ].
In Latin, a stemless variant shape of the upsilon was borrowed in early times as U, taking the form of modern-day V –either directly from the Western Greek alphabet or from the Etruscan alphabet as an intermediary –to represent the same /u/ sound, as well as the consonantal /w/, num –originally spelled NVM –was pronounced /num/ and via was pronounced [ˈwia] . From the 1st century AD on, depending on Vulgar Latin dialect, consonantal /w/ developed into /β/ (kept in Spanish), then later to /v/.
During the late Middle Ages, two minuscule forms developed, which were both used for /v/ or the vowel /u/. 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. [4] [5] [ better source needed ] The rounded variant became the modern-day version of U and its former pointed form became V.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(July 2023) |
Orthography | Phonemes |
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Afrikaans | /y/ |
Standard Chinese [6] (pinyin) | /u/, /y/ |
Danish | /u/, /ʊ/ |
Dutch | /y/, /œ/ |
English | /ʌ/, /juː/, /uː/, /ʊ/, /ɜː/, /jʊə/, /ʊə/, /w/, silent |
Esperanto | /u/ |
Faroese | /u/, /ʊ/ |
French | /y/, /ɥ/ |
German | /u/, /ʊ/ |
Icelandic | /u/, /ʏ/ |
Indonesian [7] | /u/ |
Italian | /u/, /w/ |
Japanese (Hepburn) | /ɯ/, silent |
Lithuanian | /ʊ/ |
Low German | /u/, /ʊ/ |
Malay | /u/, /w/ |
Norwegian | /ʉ/, /ɵ/ |
Portuguese | /u/, /w/, /ɐ/ |
Spanish | /u/, /w/ |
Swedish | /ʉ/, /ɵ/ |
Turkish | /u/ |
Welsh | /ɨ̞/, /ɨː/ or /ɪ/, /iː/ |
In English, the letter ⟨u⟩ has four main pronunciations. There are "long" and "short" pronunciations. Short ⟨u⟩, found originally in closed syllables, most commonly represents /ʌ/ (as in 'duck'), though it retains its old pronunciation /ʊ/ 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 /juː/ (as in 'mule'), reducing to /uː/ 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⟩, /sjuː,zjuː/ have assimilated to /ʃuː,ʒuː/ in some words.)
The letter ⟨u⟩ is used in the digraphs ⟨au⟩/ɔː/, ⟨ou⟩ (various pronunciations, but usually /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 /w/ 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 /juː/ .
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,[ when? ] with a frequency of about 2.8% in words.[ citation needed ]
In most languages that use the Latin alphabet, ⟨u⟩ represents the close back rounded vowel /u/ or a similar vowel. [8]
The International Phonetic Alphabet uses ⟨u⟩ for the close back rounded vowel.
um
" for μm (micrometer).Preview | U | u | U | u | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unicode name | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U | LATIN SMALL LETTER U | FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U | FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER U | ||||
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex |
Unicode | 85 | U+0055 | 117 | U+0075 | 65333 | U+FF35 | 65365 | U+FF55 |
UTF-8 | 85 | 55 | 117 | 75 | 239 188 181 | EF BC B5 | 239 189 149 | EF BD 95 |
Numeric character reference | U | U | u | u | U | U | u | u |
EBCDIC family | 228 | E4 | 164 | A4 | ||||
ASCII [b] | 85 | 55 | 117 | 75 |
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is a, plural aes.
E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is e ; plural es, Es, or E's.
F, or f, is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet and many modern alphabets influenced by it, including the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of all other modern western European languages. Its name in English is ef, and the plural is efs.
H, or h, is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, including the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is aitch, or regionally haitch, plural haitches.
M, or m, is the thirteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of several western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is em, plural ems.
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is en, plural ens.
O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is o, plural oes.
T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is tee, plural tees.
V, or v, is the twenty-second letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is vee, plural vees.
W, or w, is the twenty-third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is double-u, plural double-ues.
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth vowel letter of the English alphabet. Its name in English is wye, plural wyes.
Æ is a character formed from the letters a and e, originally a ligature representing the Latin diphthong ae. It has been promoted to the status of a letter in some languages, including Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese. It was also used in Old Swedish before being changed to ä. It was also used in Ossetian before switched back to its Cyrillic counterpart. The modern International Phonetic Alphabet uses it to represent the near-open front unrounded vowel. Diacritic variants include Ǣ/ǣ, Ǽ/ǽ, Æ̀/æ̀, Æ̂/æ̂ and Æ̃/æ̃.
Œ is a Latin alphabet grapheme, a ligature of o and e. In medieval and early modern Latin, it was used in borrowings from Greek that originally contained the diphthong οι, and in a few non-Greek words. These usages continue in English and French. In French, the words that were borrowed from Latin and contained the Latin diphthong written as œ now generally have é or è; but œ is still used in some non-learned French words, representing open-mid front rounded vowels, such as œil ("eye") and sœur ("sister").
Latin epsilon or open E is a letter of the extended Latin alphabet, based on the lowercase of the Greek letter epsilon (ε). It was introduced in the 16th century by Gian Giorgio Trissino to represent the pronunciation of the "open e" in the Italian language; this use of the letter has since become the standard in IPA notation. Since the 20th century, the letter also occurs in the orthographies of many Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages, such as Ewe, Akan, Lingala, Dinka and Maasai, for the vowel or, and is included in the African reference alphabet.
The letter Ʊ, called horseshoe or sometimes bucket, inverted omega or Latin upsilon, is a letter of the International Phonetic Alphabet used to transcribe a near-close near-back rounded vowel. Graphically, the lower case is a turned small-capital Greek letter omega (Ω) in many typefaces, and historically it derives from a small-capital Latin U (ᴜ), with the serifs exaggerated to make them more visible. However, Geoffrey Pullum interpreted it as an IPA variant of the Greek letter upsilon (υ) and called it Latin upsilon, the name that would be adopted by Unicode, though in IPA an actual Greek upsilon is also used for the voiced labiodental approximant; Pullum called this letter script V and Unicode calls it V with hook.
Latin alpha, script a, or single-story a is a letter of the Latin alphabet based on one lowercase form of a, or on the Greek lowercase alpha (α).
L, or l, is the twelfth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is el, plural els.
J, or j, is the tenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is jay, with a now-uncommon variant jy.
C, or c, is the third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is cee, plural cees.
I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is i, plural ies.