U, or u, is the twenty-first and sixth to the last letter of the basic Latin alphabet and the fifth vowel letter of the modern English alphabet. Its English name is u (pronounced / ˈjuː /), plural ues.

History

The letter u ultimately comes from the Phoenician letter waw through the letter y. See the letter y for details.

In the late Middle Ages, two forms of “v” developed, which were used both for its ancestor ‘u’ and modern ‘v’. “The pointed form” v “was written at the beginning of the word, while the rounded form” u “was used in the middle or end, regardless of sound. So whereas ‘appeared as in the modern press,’have’ and ‘upon’ were printed ‘haue’ and ‘vpon’, From the first registered use of “u” and “v” as separate letters is in the Gothic alphabet from 1386, where. Printers eschewed capital “U “in the 17th century, and the difference between the two letters was accepted by the French Academy until 1762.

English

In English, the letter ⟨u⟩ has four main pronunciations. There are “long” and “short” pronunciations. The short ⟨u⟩, originally found in closed syllables, most often represents / ʌ / (as in “duck”), although it retains its old pronunciation / ʊ / after labial consonants in some words (as in “placement”) and from time to time elsewhere (as in “sugar”). The long ⟨u⟩, originally found in words of French origin (the descendant of Old English long u was respelled as ⟨ou⟩)(as in ‘mule’), reducing to /uː/ after ⟨r⟩ (as in ‘rule’), (as in “rule”), ⟨j⟩ (as in “June”) and sometimes (or optionally) after ⟨l⟩ (as in “lute”) and after additional consonants in American English (see do–dew merger). (After ⟨s⟩, / sjuː, zjuː / they assimilated with / ʃuː, ʒuː /.) In a few words, short ⟨u⟩ represents other sounds, such as /ɪ/ in ‘business’ and /ɛ/ in ‘bury’.

The letter ⟨u⟩ is used in the digraphs ⟨au⟩ / ɔː /, ⟨ou⟩ (different pronunciations, but usually / aʊ / о⟨) ⟨и⟨⟩ (As with “fruits”). There is often a sound / w / before a vowel in the sequences ⟨qu⟩ (as in “fast”) (as in “unique”) and in many words with ⟨gu⟩ (as in “guard”).

In addition, the letter ⟨u⟩ is used in text messages and the internet, and other written jargon to denote “you” by virtue of the two pronounced / ju /.

One thing to note is that some varieties of English (i.e., British English, Canadian English, etc.) use the letter U in words such as color, labor, valor, etc .; in American English, however, the letter is not used and the words mentioned are spelled like the color and

Other languages

In most languages ​​that use the Latin alphabet, ⟨u⟩ is a rounded vowel / u / or o In French spelling, the letter represents a close front rounded vowel (/ y /); / u / is represented by ⟨ou⟩.

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