U

Proto-semiticW-01

PhoenicianW-01

Phoenician waw.svg

Early Aramaic character - vav

Latin letter U

Pronunciation of the name of the letter (u) in European languages.png

U

U is the 21st letter and the fifth vowel in the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Its name in English is pronounced /ˈjuː/, similar to the pronoun "you". The letter U is derived from the Phoenician alphabet and has a rich history in various languages and scripts.

History

The letter U originated from the Phoenician letter waw, which also gave rise to the letters F, V, W, and Y. The Greek alphabet adapted waw as the letter upsilon, which in turn influenced the Etruscan alphabet and the Latin alphabet. In the early Latin alphabet, the letter V was used to represent both the vowel /u/ and the consonant /v/. It wasn't until the Middle Ages that the distinction between U and V became standardized, with U representing the vowel sound and V representing the consonant sound.

Usage in English

In modern English, U is used to represent several sounds, including the long /uː/ as in "blue," the short /ʌ/ as in "cup," and the diphthong /juː/ as in "use." The letter U is also used in various digraphs, such as "ou" in "house" and "au" in "autumn."

Other Languages

In many other languages that use the Latin alphabet, U represents the close back rounded vowel /u/. In some languages, such as French and Spanish, U can also appear with diacritical marks, such as "ù," "ú," and "ü," to indicate different pronunciations or to distinguish between homophones.

Scientific and Technical Uses

In science and mathematics, the letter U is used as a symbol for various concepts:

• In physics, U often represents potential energy.
• In chemistry, U is the symbol for the element uranium.
• In mathematics, U is used to denote the union of sets.

Computing

In Unicode, the capital letter U is encoded at U+0055 and the lowercase u at U+0075. The letter U is also used in various programming languages and computer science concepts.

Related Letters and Characters

• V
• W
• Y
• Upsilon

See Also

• English alphabet
• Latin alphabet
• Phoenician alphabet
• Greek alphabet
• Etruscan alphabet