Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

U

(ū)

the twenty-first letter of the English alphabet, is a cursive form of the letter V, with which it was formerly used interchangeably, both letters being then used both as vowels and consonants. U and V are now, however, differentiated, U being used only as a vowel or semivowel, and V only as a consonant. The true primary vowel sound of U, in Anglo-Saxon, was the sound which it still retains in most of the languages of Europe, that of long oo, as in tool, and short oo, as in wood, answering to the French ou in tour. Etymologically U is most closely related to o, y (vowel), w, and v; as in two, duet, dyad, twice; top, tuft; sop, sup; auspice, aviary. See

, also

and

See Guide to Pronunciation , §§ 130-144.

Webster 1828 Edition

U

is the twenty first letter and the fifth vowel in the English Alphabet. The sound seems to be nearly that of eu, shortened and blended. This sound however is not precisely that of eu or yu, except in a few words, as in unite, union, uniform; the sound does not begin with the distinct sound of e, nor end in the distinct sound of oo, unless when prolonged. It cannot be well expressed in letters. This sound is heard in the unaffected pronunciation of annuity, numerate, brute, mute, dispute, duke, true, truth, rule, prudence, opportunity, infusion.

Some modern writers make a distinction between the sound of u, when it follows r, as in rude, truth, and its sound when it follows other letters, as in mute, duke; making the former sound equivalent to oo; rood, trooth; and the latter a diphthong equivalent to eu or yu. This is a mischievous innovation, and not authorized by any general usage either in England or the United States. The difference, very nice indeed, between the sound of u in mute, and in rude, is owing entirely to the articulation which precedes that letter. For example, when a labial precedes u, we enter on its sound with the lips closed, and in opening them to the position required for uttering u, there is almost necessarily a slight sound of e formed before we arrive at the proper sound of u. When r precedes u, the mouth is open before the sound of u is commenced. But in both cases, u is to be considered as having the same sound.

In some words, as in bull, full, pull, the sound of u is that of the Italian u, the French ou, but shortened. This is a vowel.

U

has another short sound, as in tun, run, sun, turn,

rub.

This also is a vowel.

Definition 2024

U

U	U+0055, U LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U

← T
[U+0054]

Basic Latin

V →
[U+0056]

See also: u, û, Ս, Ա, Մ, ∪, and Appendix:Variations of "u"

Translingual

Letter

U upper case (lower case u)

The twenty-first letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

(chemistry) Symbol for uranium.
(genetics) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for uracil
(physics) voltage
(mathematics, statistics) uniform distribution
(algebra) unitary group

English

Letter

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

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

Derived terms

U-turn

Abbreviation

(British film certificate) universal (suitable for all ages)
under
university
up or upper
united
(education, espionage, usually in parentheses) unclassified
A U-turn
- 2003, Tony Hillerman, The Sinister Pig, ISBN 0061098787, page 115:
  Do a U across the divider and get on back here to the office.

Adjective

U ‎(comparative more U, superlative most U)

(chiefly Britain) Characteristic of the upper classes, particularly in use of language.

Antonyms

non-U

Quotations

[1956], Alan S.C. Ross, “U and non-U,” in Brewer’s Anthology of England and the English, David Milsted
To TAKE a bath is non-U against U to HAVE one’s bath.
1956, Nancy Mitford, Noblesse Oblige: an Inquiry into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy
In a treatise that still causes ripples in English society, Mitford defined various terms as either U (upper class) or non-U.
1992, Stephan Gramley, Survey of Modern English
Other, perhaps more contentious generalizations, which nevertheless contain a certain amount of truth, are that afternoon tea is U, starts at four and typically consists of tea, thin sandwiches and cakes.
1992, Linda Rosenkrantz, Beyond Charles and Diana

Proper noun

A language belonging to the Austro-Asiatic language family which is spoken in China.

Synonyms

P'uman

External links

Ethnologue entry for U, uuu

American Sign Language

Letter

‎(Stokoe U)

The letter U

Azeri

Letter

U upper case (lower case u)

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

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /y/

Pronoun

U ‎(personal & reflexive pronoun, capitalized form of u)

(archaic) Second-person singular & plural, objective & subjective: you (polite).

Usage notes

See usage notes at u.

Letter

U ‎(capital, lowercase u)

The twenty-first letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Esperanto

Letter

U ‎(upper case, lower case u)

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

Finnish

Letter

U ‎(upper case, lower case u)

The twenty-first letter of the Finnish alphabet, called uu and written in the Latin script.

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʔuː/

Letter

U ‎(upper case, lower case u)

The twenty-first letter of the German alphabet.

Italian

Pronunciation

(phoneme; name of letter) IPA^(key): /u/
(phoneme, when followed by a vowel in the same syllable) IPA^(key): /w/

Letter

U m, f ‎(invariable, lower case u)

The nineteenth letter of the Italian alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

Latin

Etymology

In Latin, the letter U is a modern typographical convention for the vowel form of V. The letter V in ancient times denoted either a vowel or a consonant, see V for more information.

Pronunciation

Classical: IPA: short /u/, long /u:/

Letter

A letter of the Latin alphabet.

References

U in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Félix Gaffiot (1934), “U”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.

Latvian

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 ‎(upper case, lower case u)

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

Malay

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA^(key): [ju]
(Phoneme) IPA^(key): [u]
(Phoneme, Closed ultima) IPA^(key): [o]

Letter

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

Portuguese

Letter

U ‎(upper case, lower case u)

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

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

U ‎(capital, lowercase u)

The twenty-sixth letter of the Romanian alphabet representing the phoneme /u/. Preceded by Ţ and followed by V.

Saanich

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /əw/, /u/

Letter

The thirty-second letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/, /w/

Letter

U ‎(lower case u)

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

Slovene

Letter

U ‎(capital, lowercase u)

The 22nd letter of the Slovene alphabet. Preceded by T and followed by V.

Somali

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /ʉ/, /u/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ʔu/

Letter

U upper case (lower case u)

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

Usage notes

The twenty-seventh, and final, letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by O.

Spanish

Letter

U ‎(upper case, lower case u)

The 22nd letter of the Spanish alphabet.

Turkish

Letter

U ‎(upper case, lower case u)

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

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

Letter

U ‎(upper case, lower case u)

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

u

u	U+0075, u LATIN SMALL LETTER U

← t
[U+0074]

Basic Latin

v →
[U+0076]

See also: U, ս, and Appendix:Variations of "u"

Translingual

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).

Letter

u lower case (upper case U)

The twenty-first letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Symbol

(metrology) symbol for unified atomic mass unit
(phonetics) Used in the International Phonetic Alphabet and in several romanization systems of non-Latin scripts to represent a close back rounded vowel (/u/).
(physics) up quark

English

Letter

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

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)

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

Translations

name of the letter U, u

Arabic: أُو m ‎(ʾū), يُو m ‎(yū)
Catalan: u (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: (English letter names are called as in English, no other standard Mandarin name exists)
Esperanto: u
Finnish: uu (fi)
Galician: u (gl) m
Hawaiian: ʻū
Hindi: यू (hi) ‎(yū)
Ido: u (io)
Irish: ú, úr

Japanese: ユー ‎(yū)
Korean: 유 (ko) ‎(yu)
Latin: ū (la)
Malay: yu (ms)
Marathi: यू ‎(yū)
Polish: u (pl) n, u otwarte n (when contrasted with "ó")
Portuguese: u (pt) m
Russian: ю (ru) n ‎(ju) (English), у (ru) n ‎(u)
Spanish: u (es) f
Thai: ยู (th) ‎(yuu)
Turkish: u (tr)
Vietnamese: u (vi)

Derived terms

u-turn
u-bolt

Pronoun

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

(abbreviation, slang, text messaging, Internet) you (in text messaging and internet conversations)
Take me with u.

Abbreviation

Underwater.

Derived terms

u-boat (1)

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /y/

Etymology 1

From Dutch u.

Pronoun

(formal) you (singular, subject and object)

	subjective	objective	possessive
singular	1st	ek	my	my
2nd	jy	jou	jou
2nd, formal	u	u
3rd, masc	hy	hom	sy
3rd, fem	sy	haar	haar
3rd, neut	dit	sy
plural	1st	ons	ons
2nd	julle	julle / jul¹
3rd	hulle	hulle / hul¹
1. In the second and third persons plural, the usual possessive forms are julle and hulle (like the subjective and objective forms), but jul and hul are sometimes used instead when the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous.

Etymology 2

From Dutch uw.

Determiner

(formal) your (singular)

	subjective	objective	possessive
singular	1st	ek	my	my
2nd	jy	jou	jou
2nd, formal	u	u
3rd, masc	hy	hom	sy
3rd, fem	sy	haar	haar
3rd, neut	dit	sy
plural	1st	ons	ons
2nd	julle	julle / jul¹
3rd	hulle	hulle / hul¹
1. In the second and third persons plural, the usual possessive forms are julle and hulle (like the subjective and objective forms), but jul and hul are sometimes used instead when the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous.

Albanian

Etymology

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

Pronoun

reflexive pronoun

Aragonese

Etymology 1

From Latin aut.

Conjunction

Aromanian

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)

(direct object) her

Related terms

ãl (masculine equivalent)
li (plural)

Asturian

Etymology 1

From Latin aut.

Conjunction

Etymology 2

From Latin ubi.

Pronoun

where (relative pronoun)

Adverb

where

Related terms

Azeri

Letter

u lower case (upper case U)

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

Catalan

Etymology 1

Noun

u f ‎(plural us)

The Latin letter U (lowercase u).

Etymology 2

Noun

u m ‎(plural uns)

(cardinal) one

Corsican

Article

u m

Related terms

a, i, e, l'

Pronoun

u m

him, it

Czech

Pronunciation

Preposition

u + genitive

Dutch

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /y/

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.

Pronoun

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

Bent u klaar?‎ ― Are you ready?

Bent u er nog?‎ ― Are you still there?
(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.
(personal, second-person singular, objective) thee (dialectal).
Ik doe dat wel voor u.‎ ― I’ll do it for thee.
(personal, second-person plural, subjective) you (polite).
Hebt u die oefening gemaakt?‎ ― Have you prepared that exercise?
(personal, second-person plural, objective) you (polite).
Ze zullen dat wel voor u doen.‎ ― They’ll do it for you.
(reflexive, second-person singular) thyself (dialectal)
Gij hebt u niet gewassen.‎ ― Thou hast not washed thyself.
(reflexive, second-person plural) yourselves (dialectal)
Wast u eens.‎ ― Wash yourselves.

Usage notes

The capitalization of 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 gij.

Inflection

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive⁵
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k¹	mij	me	mijn	m'n¹	mijne	me	mijner
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person masculine	hij	ie¹	hem	'm¹	zijn	z'n¹	zijne	zich	zijner
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r¹, 'r¹, d'r¹	haar	h'r¹, 'r¹, d'r¹	hare	zich	harer
3rd person neuter	het	't¹	het	't¹	zijn	z'n¹	zijne	zich	zijner
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze²	–	onze	ons	onzer
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal⁶	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	zich	uwer
3rd person	zij	ze	hen³, hun⁴	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner
¹⁾ Not as common in written language. ²⁾ Inflected as an adjective. ³⁾ In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). ⁴⁾ In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative).				⁵⁾Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. ⁶⁾ To differentiate from the singular gij, and in a similar vein to "you lot" or "you guys" in English, it is common to use gijlui ("you people") or gijlieden ("you people") or one of their contracted variants, and their corresponding objects, possessives and reflexives, in the plural.

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

The twenty-first letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

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

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

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)

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

Faroese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /uː/

Letter

u ‎(upper case U)

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

Greenlandic

Affix

to be
e.g. ilinniartitsisiuuvugut - We are teachers.

Italian

Noun

u m, f ‎(invariable)

See under U

Japanese

Romanization

rōmaji reading of う
rōmaji reading of ウ

Latin

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /uː/

Noun

ū ‎(indeclinable)

The name of the letter V.

Coordinate terms

(Latin’s names for the letters of its own alphabet): ā (A), bē (B), cē (C), dē (D), ē (E), ef (F), gē (G), hā (H), ī (I), kā (K), el (L), em (M), en (N), ō (O), pē (P), kū (Q), er (R), es (S), tē (T), ū (V), ix / īx / ex (X), ȳ/ī graeca/ypsilon (Y), zēta (Z)

References

Félix Gaffiot (1934), “u”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (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."

Latvian

Etymology

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [u]

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [u]

Noun

u m (invariable)

The name of the Latin script letter U/u.

Livonian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u ‎(upper case U)

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

Malay

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

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

Maltese

Etymology

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

Conjunction

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

Mauritian Creole

Pronoun

u ‎(informal to)

Alternative spelling of ou

	singular	plural
1st person	mo mwa (objective)	nou
2nd person	to (informal), ou (formal) twa (objective)	zot
3rd person	li	zot, bann-la

Middle French

Etymology

From Latin u, v.

Letter

u (letter)
v (letter)

Usage notes

u and v were represented by a single character in Middle French, although scholars consider them to be separate letters both in terms of usage and in terms of pronunciation.

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /uː/

Pronoun

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

Declension

Possessive pronoun:

Declension of u

	nominative	accusative	dative	genitive
	Strong declension
Masculine	û	ûwen	ûwem(e) (ûwen^note)	ûwes
Neuter		û	ûwem(e) (ûwen^note)	ûwes
Feminine		ûwe	ûwer(e)
Plural	ûwe		ûwen	ûwer(e)
	Weak declension
Masculine	ûwe	ûwen	ûwen
Neuter		ûwe
Feminine		ûwen
Plural	ûwen	ûwen
The longer forms become rarer in the course of the period.

Norman

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)

(France, anatomy) eye

Norwegian

Pronunciation

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

Letter

The 21st letter of the Norwegian alphabet

Old French

Etymology 1

From Latin ubi.

Adverb

(interrogative) where

Descendants

Middle French: ou
- French: où

Etymology 2

From Latin u, v.

Letter

u (letter)
v (letter)

Usage notes

u and v were represented by a single character in Old French, although scholars consider them to be separate letters both in terms of usage and in terms of pronunciation.

Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin ubi.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈu/

Adverb

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.

Descendants

Galician: u
Portuguese: u

Polish

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [u]

Preposition

u ‎(+ genitive)

Portuguese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈu/
Homophone: o

Etymology 1

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

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

Noun

u m (plural us)

u (name of the letter U, u)

Etymology 2

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

Adverb

(obsolete) where
- 1534, Gil Vicente, Auto de Mofina Mendes:
  […] nam ſey per u‎
  […] (I) don't know where

Synonyms

(where): onde

Etymology 3

Article

u m

Eye dialect spelling of o.

Pumpokol

Etymology

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

Pronoun

you (second-person plural subjective)

Synonyms

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u (lowercase, capital U)

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

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin aut.

Conjunction

Rumu

Noun

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

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology 1

See Translingual section.

Alternative forms

(uppercase) U

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u ‎(Cyrillic spelling у)

The 27th letter of the Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet (gajica), preceded by t and followed by v.

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /u/

Preposition

u ‎(Cyrillic spelling у)

(with locative) in, at (without change of position, answering the question gdjȅ/gdȅ)

biti u školi‎ ― to be in the school

u c(ij)elom društvu‎ ― in the whole society
(with accusative) to, into (with change of position, answering the question kùda)

ići u školu‎ ― to go to school

putovati u Ameriku‎ ― to travel to America
(with accusative) on, in, at, during (in expressions concerning time)

u podne‎ ― at noon

u sr(ij)edu‎ ― on Wednesday

u zoru‎ ― at dawn

U koliko sati?‎ ― At what time?
(with locative) in, during (in expressions concerning time)

u jednom danu‎ ― in one day

u mladosti‎ ― during one's youth

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/, /w/

Letter

u ‎(upper case U)

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

Somali

Preposition

Usage notes

In Somali, prepositions fall before the verb and not before the noun they modify:

u sheeg -- to tell (lit. to call to)

u keen -- to bring to

Spanish

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /u/

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

The 22nd letter of the Spanish alphabet.

Noun

u f ‎(plural úes)

Name of the letter U.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /u/, [u], [w]

Conjunction

Usage notes

Used instead of o when the following word starts with a vowel sound which is pronounced /o/.

Swedish

Pronunciation

Letter name

IPA^(key): /ʉː/

Phoneme

IPA^(key): /ʉː/, /ɵ/

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

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

Tolai

Pronoun

Second-person singular pronoun: you (singular)

Declension

Tolai personal pronouns

	singular	dual	paucal	plural
1st person exclusive	iau	amir mir	amital mital	avet ave¹
1st person inclusive	-	dor	datal	dat da¹
2nd person	u	amur mur	amutal mutal	avat ava¹
3rd person	ia i	dir di	dital	diat dia¹
¹⁾ The plural pronouns lose the final -t when preceding a verb.

Torres Strait Creole

Noun

(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.

Turkish

Letter

u ‎(lower case, upper case U)

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

Noun

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

Turkmen

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /u/, /uː/

Letter

u ‎(upper case U)

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

Tzotzil

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʔu/

Noun

moon
month

Synonyms

(moon): jch'ul me'tik

References

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

Uzbek

Pronoun

u ‎(Cyrillic у)

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

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Noun

u ‎(𡠄)

(Northern Vietnam) mother; mom

Synonyms

Etymology 2

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

Noun

(classifier khối) u ‎(幽, 𢉾)

(oncology, pathology) tumor

Derived terms

u mỡ
u xơ tử cung
u nang buồng trứng

Related terms

ung thư

Etymology 3

Borrowing from Portuguese u.

Noun

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

Volapük

Conjunction

Alternative forms

(in front of vowels) ud