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see|U|Appendix:Variations of "u"
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Translingual

Image:Latin U.png|thumb|The letter u

Etymology 1
Image:Latin V.png|left|50px|Latin V, from which U derived
Miniscule variation of term|U, a modern variation of classical Latin term|V, from seventh century Old Latin adoption of Old Italic letter term|�|trV.<br clear"left"/>

Letter
infl|mul|letter|lower case||upper case|U

1. form of|lower case form|U A letter of many modern variations of the Latin alphabet, including the English alphabet.

Usage notes
The letter term|u is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet and in several romanization systems of non-Latin scripts to represent a w:Close back rounded vowel|close back rounded vowel (IPA|/u/).

See also
qualifier|select forms with diacritics ü ú ŭ û
qualifier|other scripts Cyrillic term|scCyrl|�|tru, Greek term|scGrek|�|try||upsilon, Hebrew term|scHebr|�|trw||vav
For more variations, see Appendix:Variations of "u".
Appendix:Roman script
pedialite

Etymology 2

etystub

Symbol
infl|mul|symbol

1. context|metrology symbol for unified atomic mass unit

English

Etymology
Image:Runic letter uruz.png|left|50px|Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter � (u, �ur�)
From ME. lower case letter term|v (also written term|u), from OE. lower case term|u|langang, from 7th century replacement by lower case term|u|langmul of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter term|�|tr=u||ur, derived from Raetic letter term||u.

Before the 1700s, the pointed form term|v was written at the beginning of a word, while a rounded form term|u was used elsewhere, regardless of sound. So whereas term|valor and term|excuse appeared as in modern printing, term|have and term|upon were printed term||haue and term||vpon. Eventually, in the 1700s, to differentiate between the consonant and vowel sounds, the term|v form was used to represent the consonant, and term|u the vowel sound. term|v then preceded term|u in the alphabet, but the order has since reversed.<br clear="left"/>

Pronunciation
sense|letter name IPA|/ju�/
sense|phoneme a|RP IPA|/�/|/u�/|/�/
sense|phoneme a|US IPA|/�/|/u/|/�/
sense|phoneme a|Australian IPA|/a/|/��/|/�/
audio|en-ca-u.ogg|Audio (CA)

Letter
infl|en|letter|lower case||upper case|U

1. The twenty-third (23rd) letter of the Appendix:Roman script|English alphabet.

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

See also
Previous letter: t
Next letter: v

Noun
en-noun|us|pl2=u�s

1. A thing in the shape of the letter U

Derived terms
u-turn
u-bolt

Abbreviation
u

1. underwater|Underwater.
2. you

Derived terms
u-boat (1)

Bosnian

Preposition
infl|bs|preposition

1. in
2. inside
3. at
4. In the possession of

Croatian

Noun
infl|ca|preposition

1. in

Czech

Pronunciation
audio|Cs-u.ogg|audio

Preposition
u

1. at
2. by

Category:Czech prepositions

Dutch

Pronoun
infl|nl|personal pronoun

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

#: Bent u klaar? � �Are you ready?�
#: Bent u er nog? � �Are you still there?�

1. 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.�

1. personal|second-person singular|objective thee (dialectal'').

#: Ik doe dat wel voor u. � �I�ll do it for thee.�

1. personal|second-person plural|subjective you (polite).

#: Hebt u die oefening gemaakt? � �Have you prepared that exercise?�

1. personal|second-person plural|objective you (polite).

#: Ze zullen dat wel voor u doen. � �They�ll do it for you.�

1. reflexive|second-person singular thyself (dialectal)

#: Gij hebt u niet gewassen. � �Thou hast not washed thyself.�

1. reflexive|second-person plural thyselves (dialectal)

#: Wast u eens. � �Wash thyselves.�

Usage notes
The capitalization of term|u (as in U or Uw) is now considered old-fashioned, and no longer compulsory. In religious contexts, it is still often capitalized.
See usage notes at term|gij.

Related terms
See Wiktionary:Dutch inflection#Pronouns|Wiktionary:Dutch inflection

Category:Dutch reflexive pronouns

Japanese

Noun
ja-noun|r|hira=�

1. �: cormorant
2. �: hiragana letter u
3. �: katakana letter u

Polish

Preposition
infl|pl|preposition|+ genitive

1. At

Romanian

Pronunciation
IPA|/u/|lang=ro

Letter
u (lowercase, capital U)

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

Category:Romanian alphabet

Romansch

Etymology
L.|rm term|aut

Conjunction
u

1. or

Category:Romansch conjunctions

Serbian

Preposition
infl|sr|preposition

1. in
2. inside
3. at
4. In the possession of

See also
�#Serbian|�

Spanish

Conjunction
infl|es|conjunction

1. or

Usage notes
Used instead of term|o|lang=es when the following word starts with a vowel sound which is pronounced IPAchar|/o/).

See also
e#Spanish|e

Swahili

Prefix
u-

1. Marks noun class 11, denoting abstract nouns, singulatives, elongated objects, and countries.

Category:Swahili noun classes

Torres Strait Creole

Noun
u

1. (eastern dialect) a mature coconut

Usage notes
U is the sixth stage of coconut growth. It is preceded by pes and followed by drai koknat.

Category:Torres Strait Creole nouns
Category:Latin letters|U

af:u
ang:u
an:u
zh-min-nan:u
cs:u
de:u
el:u
es:u
fa:u
fr:u
gl:u
ko:u
hr:u
id:u
ia:u
it:u
csb:u
ku:u
la:u
lt:u
ms:u
nl:u
ja:u
pl:u
pt:u
ru:u
sq:u
scn:u
simple:u
sk:u
sl:u
fi:u
sv:u
vi:u
tr:u
vo:u
zh:u

• 2007-12-29 02:13 - Rodasmith - letter etymology

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