Translingual

Letter

U upper case (lower case u)

1. The twenty-first letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

U is the twenty-first letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet, a vowel. Its name in English (pronounced /ˈjuː/) is spelled u; the plural is ues, though this is rare.

History

The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter V. See the letter V for details.

During the late Middle Ages, two forms of "v" developed, which were both used for modern u and v. 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 valor and excuse appeared as in modern printing, "have" and "upon" were printed haue and vpon. The first distinction between the letters "u" and "v" is recorded in a Gothic alphabet from 1386, where "v" preceded "u". By the mid-1500s, the "v" form was used to represent the consonant and "u" the vowel sound, giving us the modern letter "u". Capital "U" was not accepted as a distinct letter until many years later.

Usage

U is commonly associated with the close back rounded vowel [u] in many languages. This form is colloquially termed the "long u" in English.

In English there is also a "short U", which in most dialects of English is a near-close near-back vowel [ʊ].

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