u

Meaning

Character

The twenty-first letter of the English alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

Noun

1. The name of the Latin-script letter U/u.
2. A thing in the shape of the letter U

Pron

Abbreviation of you.

Adj

Abbreviation of underwater.

Synonyms

U

U

adequate

unit

unpublished

upper-class

Thai sweet made of rice, nut, sesame-seeds and sugar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈjuː/

Etymology

From Middle English lower case letter v (also written u), from Old English lower case u, from 7th century replacement by lower case u of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚢ (u, ur), derived from Raetic letter u.
Before the 1700s, the pointed form v was written at the beginning of a word, while a rounded form u was used elsewhere, regardless of sound. So whereas valor and excuse appeared as in modern printing, have and upon were printed haue and vpon. Eventually, in the 1700s, to differentiate between the consonant and vowel sounds, the v form was used to represent the consonant, and u the vowel sound. v then preceded u in the alphabet, but the order has since reversed.