U (letter)
U, u is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the twenty-first letter of most variants, being placed after T and before V, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. The original alphabet in ancient Rome did not distinguish between U and V: the former was the lowercase form of the latter, and they represented both the vowel [u] and the semivowel [w].
The English name of U is pronounced [ˈjuː], like the words you and ewe.
Use in English
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | |
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| Common misspellings |
u represents three back vowel sounds, one of which (û) has a variant with an initial semivowel, sounding like the word yoû; or it can be a semi-consonant sounding like w, most often after q.
Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings):
The short sound: dúck, fún, úp, cúddle, lúst, múst, lúck, búbble, troúble, soúthern (but not sòuth), nút, cúp, fúss, búg, bús, stún, búlb, pútt golf (cf. pùt place), nún God (= nòne negative). The sound is a stressed schwa in American English, IPA 'ʌ' in standard British English.
Compare lúck and loòk (pronounced the same in demotic speech in Northern England, where lùck = loòk): ú, because it is a single letter and a short sound, is usually followed by -ck in monosyllables.
A ú is written after an ò, though there is still only the one short sound, in some words: Doúglas, floúrish, noúrish, yoúng, troúble, doúble (cf. BrE roûble, AmE rûble).
There are two different long sounds: one with an invisible consonantal y before it (as always found in eŵ as in feŵ or ieŵ as in vieŵ); and a plain oô sound (as in toô, foôd, noôn). The sound is always 'yû' initially: ûse (verb, voiced s; noun, unvoiced s), ûsual, Ûrals, ûríne.
Pronounced 'yû': cûrious, mûcous, Canûte, pûre, cûre, ukulèlê, bûte, cûte, fûtile, mûte, pûtrid, queûe line (*kyoô = cûe hint), with secondary stress in vácûum (where it is doubled) and Uttóxeter (where it precedes a double consonant), and regarded as the more correct pronunciation in stûpid, nûclear, nûde.
Pronounced 'oô' in British English: Lûke, lûnar, flûe chimney = flû influenza, blûe, glûe, rûde, rûle, rûmour, Rûfus, Rûpert, accrûe, scrûple. Pronounced 'yoô' in BrE (but can be 'oô' in AmE): tûne, tûbe, dûty.
Pronunciation depending on region and idiolect: lûred, lûrid, lûcid, Lithuânia, sûit, Surinám.
The sound with the invisible y can also be spelt eû: neûrotic, Eûrope, pneumônia, eûphony, psêud, psêudo- (and without the y sound in rheûmatism), or ûi as in nûisance, though in this case the 'oô' sound, often after a liquid consonant, is more common: slûice, brûise, recrûit, crûise, frûit, jûice.
There is never any 'y' sound when the spelling is oû (except in the local pronunciation of Hoûston, Texas): soûp, groûp, throûgh, roûble (BrE; = AmE rûble), Loûvre, goûlash - though ou has other sounds: yoúng, troúble, doúble, fŏur, cŏurse, ŏught, nŏught, jöurney.
After j it is impossible to make a difference: Jûne, Jûpiter, jûniper, jûry, jûke-bóx, jûte, cf. choôse. There are no words beginning shû- (cf. shút) or chû- (cf. chúm) - except for the French chûte shaft = shoõt gun, which does not have the normal 'ch' sound.
Occasionally with the combination sû there is a tendency to palatalise fully and pronounce the s as sh, as for example in sûre certain, which BrE speakers can make sound like the name Shåw, and which never sounds like sewêr waste; and in íssue (*íshue - though there is a recent trend back to *íssyue) and tíssue. But most words do not palatalise: assûme has the y sound, as can sûit, while sûture and sûper have a plain s sound.
(The tendency noted above for BrE speakers to make sûre sound like Shåw used to be more widespread, as with, for example, secûrity pronounced *sekyŏrity: it can be heard in old British films.)
ù sounds like oò in foòt and occurs in a few common words: pùsh, bùsh, fùll, pùt, pùdding, coùld, woùld, shoùld (silent l’s in the last three).
In Welsh names such as Plaîd Cymru (*Plîde Cúmry), u is pronounced as êe.
Sounding like w
u is almost always the letter that follows q, where it is pronounced 'w': quêen, quénch, quâke, quíll, quést. And like w in ẁant, it has an effect on the following a, making it sound like 'ŏ' or 'ó' (or à in AmE):
uå sounding like 'wŏ': quårter, quårtz, squåll, quartét, quårt.
ùa sounding like 'wó' (= 'wà' in AmE): sqùalor, qùantity, qùadrangle, qùarrel.
In some words, mostly from Spanish, u can be pronounced 'w' without a preceding 'q': Nicarágua (-gwə, or, more traditionally, gûə), marijuàna (*mariyəwànə, -yû-àna), iguàna (*igwànə, or -gû-), Pápua (*Pápwə or *Pápuwə), guàno, Guàm; suède and persuâde, which rhyme with wâde, and assuâge, which rhymes with wâge.
Silent and redundant
A redundant u sometimes occurs in the middle of ŏr as ŏur in: 'fŏur, cŏurse, sŏurce, gŏurd.
Another redundant u occurs in the middle of ör as öur in jöurney, jöurnal, adjöurn, cöurteous, cöurtesey politeness (cf. cürtsey bow), scöurge and unstressed in Lúxembourg.
u is also silent before i in guîde, guílty, buíld, guíld, bíscuit, cïrcuit, and before e in guéss, guést, and usually in the ending -ue: tòngue, vâgue, rôgue, burlésque, baròque, unìque, grotésque, but not in âgûe or Móntagûe.
āunt and guàrd also have redundant u, as does gâuge (*gâje), though this can be spelt gâge in American.
In endings
-us is an ending with the schwa sound, most often in names: Màrcus, Dêlius, Míngus, Tåurus, Sagittãrius, Vênus, Sírius, Cánopus, Aquãrius, Pándarus, Lûpus, Cêtus, Arctûrus, Jûlius, Crássus, Cássius, Vílnius, Epicûrus, Confûcius, and also in nouns: óctopus, ábacus, sánctus, nímbus, sýllabus, ómnibus, détritus, crôcus.
-ous is used in adjectives: glorious, fûrious, têdious, pulchritûdinous, màrvellous.
uu is very rare and can be pronounced as one syllable -yû-, as usually in vácûum, or as two syllables -yû(w)ù-, as in contínûùm.
Irregular u’s
| Spelling | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| au pãir | *ô pãir |
| Austria | *Óstria |
| because | *bicóz |
| bûreau | *byûrô |
| bureaucracy | *byurócracy |
| bury earth | bérry fruit |
| business | *bízniss |
| busy | *bízzy |
| faux-pàs | *fô-pà |
| gauche | Ghôsh surname |
| laureate | *lóriət |
| laurel | *lórrəl |
| Laurence | *Lórrənce (= Lawrence, which is more common) |
| Laurie name | lórry vehicle |
| Maurice (BrE) given name | Mórris surname |
| mauve | *môav (move is pronounced *moôve) |
| pláteau | *pláttô |
| Ruthven surname | riven |
| tábleau | *táblô |
In lieuténant, in some British English, u is pronounced f (*lefténant), and in the British Navy it is silent (*lé-ténant), though in American and most BrE, it is a regular û.
For the many pronunciations of ough, see O.