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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 ), plural ues.
In Greek language, two letters were adapted from the Phoenician waw. The letter was adapted, but split in two, with Digamma or wau being adapted to represent , and the second one being Upsilon , which was originally adapted to represent , later fronted, becoming .
In Latin, a stemless variant shape of the upsilon was borrowed in early times as U, taking the form of modern-day Veither directly from the Western Greek alphabet or from the Etruscan alphabet as an intermediaryto represent the same sound, as well as the consonantal , numoriginally spelled NVMwas pronounced and via was pronounced . From the 1st century AD on, depending on Vulgar Latin dialect, consonantal developed into (kept in Spanish language), then later to .
During the late Middle Ages, two minuscule forms developed, which were both used for or the vowel . The pointed form was written at the beginning of a word, while a rounded form 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 and as distinct letters is in a Gothic alphabet from 1386, where preceded . Printers eschewed capital in favor of into the 17th century and the distinction between the two letters was not fully accepted by the French Academy until 1762.cf. "U," in Dictionnaire de l'Académie Françoise, 4th ed., 2: 893. 2 vols. Paris: Chez la Veuve de Bernard Brunet, Imprimeur de l'
The letter is used in the digraphs , (various pronunciations, but usually ), and with the value of long in , , and in a few words (as in 'fruit'). It often has the sound before a vowel in the sequences (as in 'quick'), (as in 'anguish'), and (as in 'suave'), though it is silent in final (as in 'unique') and in many words with (as in 'guard').
Additionally, the letter is used in text messaging, the Internet slang, and other written slang to denote 'you', by virtue of both being pronounced .
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, with a frequency of about 2.8% in words.
and "U," in Dictionnaire de l'Académie Françoise, 4th ed., 2: 893. 2 vols. Paris: Chez la Veuve de Bernard Brunet, Imprimeur de l'
/ref> The rounded variant became the modern-day version of U and its former pointed form became V.
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English
In English language, the letter has four main pronunciations. There are "long" and "short" pronunciations. Short , found originally in closed syllables, most commonly represents (as in 'duck'), though it retains its old pronunciation after in some words (as in 'put') and occasionally elsewhere (as in 'sugar'). Long , found originally in words of French origin (the descendant of Old English long was respelled as ), most commonly represents (as in 'mule'), reducing to after (as in 'rule'), (as in 'June') and sometimes (or optionally) after (as in 'lute'), and after additional consonants in American English (a do–dew merger). (After , have assimilated to in some words.)
Other languages
In most languages that use the Latin alphabet, represents the close back rounded vowel or a similar vowel.
Other systems
The International Phonetic Alphabet uses for the close back rounded vowel.
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