u

Etymology 1

Minuscule variation of U, a modern variation of classical Latin V, from seventh century Old Latin adoption of Old Italic letter 𐌖 (V).

Etymology 2

Gallery

• Letter styles
• 
  Capital and lowercase versions of U, in normal and italic type
• 
  Uppercase and lowercase U in Fraktur

See also

Other representations of U:

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.

Pronunciation

Letter name

• IPA^(key): /juː/
• Homophones: ewe, yew, you, hew (in h-dropping dialects), hue (in h-dropping dialects)

Phoneme

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /a/, /ʉː/, /ʊ/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ʌ/, /uː/, /ʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ʌ/, /u/, /ʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U, plural u's)

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

   I prefer the u in Arial to the one in Times New Roman.

Noun

u (plural ues)

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

Pronoun

u (second person, singular or plural, nominative or objective)

1. (abbreviation, slang, text messaging, Internet) you (in text messaging and internet conversations)

   Take me with u.

Abbreviation

u

1. Underwater.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [u]

Noun

u

1. coconut (fruit of the coco palm)

References

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y/

Etymology 1

From Dutch u.

Etymology 2

From Dutch uw.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [u]

Verb

u

1. to swim

References

• Greenhill, S.J., Blust. R, & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283.

Etymology

From Proto-Albanian *wa, from Proto-Indo-European *su̯om.

Pronoun

u

1. reflexive pronoun

Etymology

From Latin aut.

Conjunction

u

1. or

Etymology

Probably from an early (proto-Romanian) root *eaua, from Latin illam, accusative feminine singular of ille. Compare Romanian o.

Pronoun

u f (short/unstressed accusative form of ea)

1. (direct object) her

Etymology 1

From Latin aut.

Etymology 2

From Latin ubi.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u lower case (upper case U)

1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Azerbaijani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈu/

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Article

u m

1. the

Pronoun

u m

1. him, it

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/

• audio

  (file)

Preposition

u + genitive

1. at
2. by

Etymology

Originally the accusative/dative form of jij/gij, from Middle Dutch u, from Old Dutch iu, from Proto-Germanic *iwwiz, West Germanic variant of *izwiz, dative/accusative of *jūz, from Proto-Indo-European *yū́. Doublet of jou.

The use as a nominative stems from an original possessive uwe edelheid (“your gentility”), which was later shortened to U E. and finally to u.

Cognate with West Frisian jo, Low German jo, ju, English you, German euch.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /y/

Pronoun

u

1. (personal, second-person singular, subjective) you (polite).

   Bent u klaar? ― Are you ready?

   Bent u er nog? ― Are you still there?

2. (personal, second-person singular, objective) you (polite).

   Ik zal het aan u geven. ― I will give it to you.

   Dit zal niet werken voor u. ― This won’t work for you.

3. (personal, second-person singular, objective) thee (dialectal).

   Ik doe dat wel voor u. ― I’ll do it for thee.

4. (personal, second-person plural, subjective) you (polite).

   Hebt u die oefening gemaakt? ― Have you prepared that exercise?

5. (personal, second-person plural, objective) you (polite).

   Ze zullen dat wel voor u doen. ― They’ll do it for you.

6. (reflexive, second-person singular) thyself (dialectal)

   Gij hebt u niet gewassen. ― Thou hast not washed thyself.

7. (reflexive, second-person plural) yourselves (dialectal)

   Wast u eens. ― Wash yourselves.

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U)

1. The twenty-first letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /u/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /u/

• Audio

  (file)

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U)

1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

Noun

u (accusative singular u-on, plural u-oj, accusative plural u-ojn)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter U/u.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uː/

Letter

u (upper case U)

1. The twenty-third letter of the Faroese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y/

Noun

u m (plural us)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter U/u.

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U)

1. A letter of the Fula alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• (context pronunciation, letter name) IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u (upper case U)

1. The twenty-first letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Adverb

u

1. where

Etymology

From Latin ū (the name of the letter V).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: u

Noun

u f (invariable)

1. The name of the Latin-script letter U/u.

Romanization

u

1. Rōmaji transcription of う
2. Rōmaji transcription of ウ

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /uː/

Noun

ū (indeclinable)

1. The name of the letter V.

References

• u in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • anger is defined as a passionate desire for revenge: iracundiam sic (ita) definiunt, ut ulciscendi libidinem esse dicant or ut u. libido sit or iracundiam sic definiunt, ulc. libidinem
    
• u in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Arthur E. Gordon, The Letter Names of the Latin Alphabet (University of California Press, 1973; volume 9 of University of California Publications: Classical Studies), part III: “Summary of the Ancient Evidence”, page 32: "Clearly there is no question or doubt about the names of the vowels A, E, I, O, U. They are simply long A, long E, etc. (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū). Nor is there any uncertainty with respect to the six mutes B, C, D, G, P, T. Their names are bē, cē, dē, gē, pē, tē (each with a long E). Or about H, K, and Q: they are hā, kā, kū—each, again, with a long vowel sound."

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [u]

Letter

U

u (lower case, upper case U)

1. The twenty-ninth letter of the Latvian alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [u]

Noun

u m (invariable)

1. The name of the Latin script letter U/u.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /ʊ/

Letter

u (upper case U)

1. The twenty-seventh letter of the Lithuanian alphabet, called u trumpoji and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) A a, Ą ą, B b, C c, Č č, D d, E e, Ę ę, Ė ė, F f, G g, H h, I i, Į į, Y y, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p, R r, S s, Š š, T t, U u, Ų ų, Ū ū, V v, Z z, Ž ž

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u (upper case U)

1. The thirty-fifth letter of the Livonian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) kēratēḑ; A a, Ā ā, Ä ä, Ǟ ǟ, B b, D d, Ḑ ḑ, E e, Ē ē, F f, G g, H h, I i, Ī ī, J j, K k, L l, Ļ ļ, M m, N n, Ņ ņ, O o, Ō ō, Ȯ ȯ, Ȱ ȱ, Õ õ, Ȭ ȭ, P p, R r, Ŗ ŗ, S s, Š š, T t, Ț ț, U u, Ū ū, V v, Z z, Ž ž

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U)

1. The twenty-first letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Etymology

From Semitic. Cognate with Arabic وَ‎ (wa), Hebrew וְ־‎ (v').

Conjunction

u

1. and (used to connect two similar words, phrases, etc.)

Pronoun

u (informal to)

1. Alternative spelling of ou

Etymology 1

From Old Dutch iuwa, from Proto-Germanic *izweraz.

Etymology 2

See etymology on the main entry.

Further reading

• “uwe”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “u (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929

Noun

u

1. Alternative form of ew

Etymology

From Latin u, v.

Letter

u

1. u (letter)
2. v (letter)

Pronoun

ū

1. (personal pronoun, dative, Middle German) Alternative form of iu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uː/

Pronoun

û

1. (personal pronoun, dative, accusative) Alternative form of jû.
2. (possessive) Alternative form of jû.

Alternative forms

• ieil (Guernsey)
• yi (Jersey)

Etymology

From Old French ueil, from Vulgar Latin oclus, from Latin oculus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”).

Noun

u m (plural uûs or uur)

1. (France, anatomy) eye

Pronunciation

• (letter name): IPA^(key): /ʉː/
• (phoneme): IPA^(key): /ʉː/, /ʉ/, /ʊ/

Letter

u

1. The 21st letter of the Norwegian alphabet

Etymology 1

From Latin ubi.

Etymology 2

From Latin u, v.

Etymology

From Latin ubi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈu/

Adverb

u

1. where
   • 13th century, Vindel manuscript, Martín Codax, Mia irmana fremosa, treides comigo (facsimile)

     Mia irmana fremoſa treides de grado / ala ygreia de uigo u e o mar leuado / E miraremos las ondas.

     Lovely sister, come willingly / To the church in Vigo, where the sea is up, / And we will gaze at the waves.

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *u, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

u (+ genitive)

1. at

Further reading

• u in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈu/
• Homophone: o

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

From Old Portuguese u, from Latin ubi. Cognate with Galician u, French où, Italian ove and Romanian iuo.

Etymology 3

Etymology

From Proto-Yeniseian *ʔaw (/ *ʔu) ("thou").

Pronoun

u

1. you (second-person plural subjective)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u (lowercase, capital U)

1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Romanian alphabet representing the phoneme /u/. Preceded by ţ and followed by v.

Etymology

From Latin aut.

Conjunction

u

1. or

Noun

u

1. water

References

• Rumu-English-Motu dictionary; Rumu (misc)
• Transnewguinea.org, citing G. E. MacDonald, The Teberan Language Family, pages 111-121, in The Linguistic Situation in the Gulf District and Adjacent Area, Papua New Guinea (editor K. J. Franklin) (1973)
• Karl J. Franklin, Comparative Wordlist 1 of the Gulf District and adjacent areas (1975), page 67

Etymology 1

See Translingual section.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Slavic *u, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/, /w/

Letter

u (upper case U)

1. The thirty-first letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) bukva; A a,  â, B b, C c, Č č, Ʒ ʒ, Ǯ ǯ, D d, Đ đ, E e, F f, G g, Ǧ ǧ, Ǥ ǥ, H h, I i, J j, K k, Ǩ ǩ, L l, M m, N n, Ŋ ŋ, O o, Õ õ, P p, R r, S s, Š š, T t, U u, V v, Z z, Ž ž, Å å, Ä ä, ʹ

Preposition

u

1. to
2. for

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Letter name

• IPA^(key): /ʉː/

Phoneme

• IPA^(key): /ʉː/, /ɵ/

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

Pronoun

u

1. Second-person singular pronoun: you (singular)

Noun

u

1. (eastern dialect) a mature coconut

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U)

1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

Noun

u

1. The name of the Latin-script letter U/u.

Pronunciation

• (phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/, /uː/

Letter

u (upper case U)

1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Turkmen alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

See also

• (Latin-script letters) harp; A a, B b, Ç ç, D d, E e, Ä ä, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, Ž ž, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ň ň, O o, Ö ö, P p, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ü ü, W w, Y y, Ý ý, Z z

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔu/

Noun

u

1. moon
2. month

References

• “ˀu(1)” in Laughlin, Robert M. (1975) The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Pronoun

u (Cyrillic у)

1. Demonstrative pronoun used to indicate a thing that is far away from the speaker. that.
   • U eshik. ― That is a door. / That door.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔu˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔʊw˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔʊw˧˧]

Etymology 1

Etymology 2

From Proto-Vietic *ʔuː (“hump (of a zebu)”).

Etymology 3

From Portuguese u.

Conjunction

u

1. or

Letter

u (lower case, upper case U)

1. The twenty-first letter of the Zulu alphabet, written in the Latin script.