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Character variations

Minuscule variation of U, a modern variation of classical Latin V, from seventh century Old Latin adoption of Old Italic letter 𐌖 (V).

u (upper case U)

  1. The twenty-first letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
  • Pronunciation of IPA [uː]:(file)

u

  1. (metrology) Symbol for atomic mass unit
  2. (IPA, phonetics) a close back rounded vowel.
  3. (IPA, superscript ⟨ᵘ⟩) [u]-coloring, a [u] on-glide or off-glide (a diphthong), or a weak, fleeting, epenthetic or echo [u].
  4. (international standards) transliterates Indic उ (or equivalent).
  5. (physics) up quark
  • Letter styles

  • Uppercase and lowercase versions of U, in normal and italic type

  • Uppercase and lowercase U in Fraktur

Other representations of U:

 
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚢ (u, “ur”)

From Middle English lower case letter v (also written u), from Old English lower case u, from 7th century replacement by lower case u of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚢ (u, ur), derived from Raetic letter u.

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

Letter name
Phoneme

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

  1. 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.

u (plural ues)

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

name of the letter U, u

u (second person, singular or plural, nominative or objective, possessive determiner ur, possessive pronoun urs, singular reflexive urself, plural reflexive urselves)

  1. (Internet slang, text messaging, colloquial) Abbreviation of you.

    t8k me w u

u

  1. Abbreviation of underwater.

Abbreviations.

  1. (stenoscript) a word-initial letter ⟨u⟩
  2. (stenoscript) the long vowel /uː/ or /juː/ at the end of a word, or before a final consonant that is not /dʒ, v, z/. (Note: the final consonant is not written; [ʊə˞] (-ure, -oor etc.) counts as /uːr/.)
    Thus the words you, your; also derivative yours
  3. (stenoscript) the prefix un-

u

  1. coconut (fruit of the coco palm)

From Dutch u.

u

  1. (formal) you (singular, subject and object)

From Dutch uw.

u

  1. (formal) your (singular)

u

  1. to swim

From Proto-Semitic *wa (“and”). Cognate with Arabic وَ (wa) and Biblical Hebrew וְ־ (wə̆-).

u

  1. and
  2. moreover, likewise, also, too
    𒅇 𒅆𒅅𒁕𒄠 𒋗𒁉𒇴 [u šiqdam šūbilam] ― u₃ ši-iq-da-am šu-bi-lam ― also, send me almonds

    • 1755–1750 BCE, King Hammurabi of Babylon, translated by OMNIKA Foundation, Hammurabi Code‎[2], The Louvre, Law 129:

      𒋳𒈠𒀸𒊭𒀜 𒀀𒉿𒅆 𒀉𒋾𒍣𒅗𒊑𒅎 𒊭𒉌𒅎 𒄿𒈾𒄿𒌅𒅆 𒀉𒋫𒊍𒁁 𒄿𒅗𒍪𒋗𒉡𒋾𒈠 𒀀𒈾 𒈨𒂊 𒄿𒈾𒀜𒁺𒌑 𒋗𒉡𒋾 𒋳𒈠𒁁𒂖 𒀸𒊭𒁴 𒀸𒊭𒍪𒌑𒁀𒆷𒀜 𒅇 𒊬𒊒𒌝 𒀵𒍪𒌑𒁀𒆷𒀜

      [šumma aššat awīlim itti zikarim šanîm ina itūlim ittaṣbat, ikassûšunūtī-ma ana mê inaddûšunūti; šumma bēl aššatim aššassu uballaṭ, u šarrum warassu uballaṭ.]
      šum-ma aš-ša-at a-wi-lim it-ti zi-ka-ri-im ša-ni-im i-na i-tu-lim it-ta-aṣ-bat i-ka-su₂-šu-nu-ti-ma a-na me-e i-na-ad-du-u₂-šu-nu-ti šum-ma be-el aš-ša-tim aš-ša-su₂ u₂-ba-la-aṭ u₃ šar-ru-um IR₃-su₂ u₂-ba-la-aṭ
      If an awīlum's wife has been caught lying with another man, they will be bound and thrown into the water; if the wife's lord wishes to spare his wife, also the king may spare his servant.
Cuneiform spellings
Phonetic
  • Huehnergard, John (2011) A Grammar of Akkadian (Harvard Semitic Studies; 45), 3rd edition, Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns
  • “šiqdu”, in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD)‎[3], Chicago: University of Chicago Oriental Institute, 1956–2011

From Proto-Albanian *wa, from Proto-Indo-European *swom, from Proto-Indo-European *swé. Compare Latin sē.

u

  1. the reflexive pronoun
    u mblodhën ― they gathered (literally, “they gathered themselves”)

u

  1. (Bern) and

    • 2008, Ulrich Stuber, Der Bettleschloss-Tüfel:

      Si hei glachet u der Grossätti het gfunge: „So, jetz wärs Zyt für no chlei öppis z Znacht - u nächär göh mir de ungere.

      She laughed and the grandpa opined: „So, now is the time for a little bit of dinner - and afterwards we'll go downstairs.

u

  1. Alternative spelling of uu
  • “u”, in Wörterbuch Berndeutsch-Deutsch (in German), berndeutsch.ch, 1999–2024

From Latin aut.

u

  1. or

Probably from an early (proto-Romanian) root *eaua, from Latin illam, accusative feminine singular of ille. Compare Romanian o.

u f (short/unstressed accusative form of ea)

  1. (direct object) her
  • ãl (masculine equivalent)
  • li (plural)

From Latin aut.

u

  1. or

From Latin ubi.

u

  1. where (relative pronoun)

    Equí ye u alcontré la fueya.

    Here is where I found the leaf.

u

  1. where

    ¿Du yes? ¿Au vas? ¿Nu tas?

    Where are you from? Where are you going? Where are you in?

u lower case (upper case U)

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

u (tone ù)

  1. they

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-second letter of the Basque alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

u (indeclinable)

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

u f (plural us)

  1. the Latin letter U (lowercase u)
Catalan numbers (edit)
10
 ←  0 1 2  →  10  → 
    Cardinal: u, un
    Ordinal: primer
    Ordinal abbreviation: 1r
Catalan Wikipedia article on 1

u m (plural uns)

  1. one

u

  1. inside
  2. within view (of the speaker)
  3. entering a deep domain; entering a domain in an extensive manner

    utyásuuna ša'ari cahta'a

    The water is pouring into the (deep) pot.
  • a (“outside; out of view”)
  • Eugene Casad, Ronald Langacker (1985) “'Inside' and 'outside' in Cora grammar”, in International Journal of American Linguistics

From the earlier lu. Compare Portuguese o and Aragonese o.

u m (feminine a, masculine plural i, feminine plural e)

  1. the
  • Before a vowel, u turns into l'.

u m

  1. him, it (direct object)
  • Before a vowel, u turns into l'.
  • “u, lu” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

Inherited from Old Czech u, from Proto-Slavic *u.

u + genitive

  1. at
  2. by
  • “u”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935-1957
  • “u”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-bu-s.

u

  1. head
  • Ross Perlin (2019) A Grammar of Trung‎[4], Santa Barbara: University of California

Originally the dative and accusative form of jij/gij, from Middle Dutch u, from Old Dutch iu, from Proto-West Germanic *iwwiz, 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 form is linked to the polite address uwe edelheid (“your nobility, your gentility”), which was shortened to U E. in writing and at times accordingly pronounced /yˈ(w)eː/. It is debated, however, whether this was the actual cause of the development or whether it merely reinforced it. Compare English you, which was originally an object form, as well as Afrikaans ons and nonstandard Dutch hun.

Cognate with West Frisian jo, Low German jo, ju, English you, German euch.

u

  1. (personal, second-person singular, subjective) you (polite)
    Bent u klaar? ― Are you ready?
    Bent u er nog? ― Are you still there?
  2. (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.
  3. (personal, second-person singular, objective) thee (dialectal)
    Ik doe dat wel voor u. ― I’ll do it for thee.
  4. (personal, second-person plural, subjective) you (polite)
    Hebt u die oefening gemaakt? ― Have you prepared that exercise?
  5. (personal, second-person plural, objective) you (polite)
    Ze zullen dat wel voor u doen. ― They’ll do it for you.
  6. (reflexive, second-person singular) thyself (dialectal)
    Gij hebt u niet gewassen. ― Thou hast not washed thyself.
  7. (reflexive, second-person plural) yourselves (dialectal)
    Wast u eens. ― Wash yourselves.
  • 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 when addressing God.
  • In verbs whose second and third persons singular are distinct, u may be construed with either of them. In formal context, the second person form is generally preferred except for the verb hebben (“to have”). Thus predominantly u bent, kunt, wilt, zult, whereas u heeft is more common than (or at least equally common as) u hebt.
  • See also the usage notes at gij.
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, mijns
2nd person jij je jou je jouw je jouwe je jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal gij ge u – uw – uwe u uwer, uws
2nd person formal u – u – uw – uwe zich uwer, uws
3rd person masculine hij ie1 hem 'm1 zijn z'n1 zijne zich zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine zij ze haar h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 haar h'r1, 'r1, d'r1 hare zich harer, haars
3rd person neuter het 't1 het 't1 zijn z'n1 zijne zich zijner, zijns
plural
1st person wij we ons – ons, onze2 – onze ons onzer, onzes
2nd person jullie je jullie je jullie je – je –
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6 gij ge u – uw – uwe u uwer, uws
2nd person formal u – u – uw – uwe zich uwer, uws
3rd person zij ze hen3, hun4 ze hun – hunne zich hunner, huns
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, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-first letter of the Dutch alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • Previous letter: t
  • Next letter: v

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

u (accusative singular u-on, plural u-oj, accusative plural u-ojn)

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

From Old Galician-Portuguese o, from Latin illo (“he”).

u m sg (plural us, feminine a, feminine plural as)

  1. (Lagarteiru, Valverdeñu) Masculine singular definite article; the

u

  1. (Lagarteiru, Valverdeñu) Third person singular masculine accusative pronoun; him
  • Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎[5], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

u (upper case U)

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

The Finnish orthography using the Latin script was based on those of Swedish, German and Latin, and was first used in the mid-16th century. No earlier script is known. See the Wikipedia article on Finnish for more information, and u for information on the development of the glyph itself.

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

u m (plural u)

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

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. A letter of the Fula alphabet, written in the Latin script.

From Latin ū.

u m (plural us)

  1. the name of the letter U.

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese u, from ubi.

u

  1. (archaic) where, whereby(Can we verify(+) this sense?)
    Synonym: onde
  2. where (interrogative adverb)
    Synonym: onde
    U-los libros? Ulos? ― Where are the books? Where are they?

u

  1. Romanization of 𐌿

Guinea-Bissau Creole

edit

From Portuguese tu.

u

  1. you (second person singular).

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The thirty-fourth letter of the Hungarian alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.
Inflection (stem in long/high vowel, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative u u-k
accusative u-t u-kat
dative u-nak u-knak
instrumental u-val u-kkal
causal-final u-ért u-kért
translative u-vá u-kká
terminative u-ig u-kig
essive-formal u-ként u-kként
essive-modal — —
inessive u-ban u-kban
superessive u-n u-kon
adessive u-nál u-knál
illative u-ba u-kba
sublative u-ra u-kra
allative u-hoz u-khoz
elative u-ból u-kból
delative u-ról u-król
ablative u-tól u-któl
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		u-é u-ké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		u-éi u-kéi
Possessive forms of u
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. u-m u-im
2nd person sing. u-d u-id
3rd person sing. u-ja u-i
1st person plural u-nk u-ink
2nd person plural u-tok u-itok
3rd person plural u-juk u-ik
  • (sound and letter): u in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • ([onomatopoeia] imitation of barking): u in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • (context pronunciation, letter name) IPA(key): /u/

u (upper case U)

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

From Latin ū (the name of the letter V).

  • IPA(key): /ˈu/*
  • Rhymes: -u
  • Hyphenation: ù

u f or m (invariable, lower case, upper case U)

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

u f (invariable)

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

u

  1. The hiragana syllable う (u) or the katakana syllable ウ (u) in Hepburn romanization.

The Kashubian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Kashubian alphabet article on Wikipedia for more, and u for development of the glyph itself.

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

u m (feminine ka, masculine and feminine plural ki)

  1. the (masculine singular definite article)

u m (feminine ka, masculine and feminine plural ki)

  1. he, it
  • Singh, U Nissor (1906) Khasi-English dictionary‎[6], Shillong: Eastern Bengal and Assam Secretariat Press, page 242. Searchable online at SEAlang.net.

u

  1. his, her, its

u (upper case U)

  1. A letter of the Kiowa alphabet.

May occur long (u꞉) or nasal (un̶) or both (un̶꞉), but only after the velar consonants g̶, g, k, kʼ.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔu (“egg, bird”). Cognates include Burmese ဥ (u., “egg”) and Chinese 嫗／妪 (yǔ, “to incubate”).

u

  1. egg

u

  1. to lay an egg
  • Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎[7], Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

ū f (indeclinable)

  1. The name of the letter V.
  • u in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[8], 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."

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.

 
U

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

u m (invariable)

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

u (upper case U)

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

u (upper case U)

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

u (upper case U)

  1. The twenty-ninth letter of the Lower Sorbian alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.
  2. The name of the Latin-script letter u/U.

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-first letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • IPA(key): /u/ (short phoneme)
  • IPA(key): /uː/ (long phoneme)
  • IPA(key): /ɔw/, /aw/ (after għ; variation is regional and idiolectal)
  • In inherited words, short u occurs almost exclusively in unstressed syllables. In borrowings, it is a full phoneme and commonly stressed.

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Maltese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

From Arabic وَ (wa), from Proto-Semitic *wa. Cognate with Hebrew וְ־ (wə-).

u

  1. and; used to connect words, phrases, etc.
    il-kelb u l-qattus ― the dog and the cat
    tpejjep u tixrob ― she smokes and drinks

    • 2008, Trevor Żahra, Il-Ġenn li Jżommni f’Sikti, Merlin Publishers, →ISBN:

  2. when, as; used after a personal pronoun and followed by an active participle or imperfect verb
    huma u reqdin ― when they were sleeping (literally, “they and sleeping”)
    aħna u nitkellmu ― when we were talking (literally, “we and we talk”)
  • w (superseded representation of the consonantal pronunciation)

u (construct form uin)

  1. (alienable) a fish trap

u (informal to)

  1. Alternative spelling of ou

Mauritian Creole personal pronouns

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

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ú

  1. salt

ú

  1. sweet
  • Andrews, Enriqueta (1950) Vocabulario otomí de Tasquillo, Hidalgo‎[9] (in Spanish), México, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, pages 36, 76
  • Hernández Cruz, Luis, Victoria Torquemada, Moisés (2010) Diccionario del hñähñu (otomí) del Valle del Mezquital, estado de Hidalgo (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 45)‎[10] (in Spanish), second edition, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 360

From Old Dutch iuwa, from Proto-Germanic *izweraz.

u

  1. your (plural)
  2. your (singular, informal)

See the usage notes for gi.

  • Dutch: uw
  • Limburgish: eur

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

u

  1. accusative/dative of gi
  • Dutch: u
  • “uwe”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “u (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

u

  1. Alternative form of ew

From Latin u, v.

u

  1. u (letter)
  2. v (letter)
  • 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.

ū

  1. (personal pronoun, dative, Middle German) Alternative form of iu.

û

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

Possessive pronoun:

Declension of u

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

From Old French ueil, from Vulgar Latin oclus, from Latin oculus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- (“eye; to see”).

u m (plural uûs or uur)

  1. (France, anatomy) eye
  • (letter name): IPA(key): /ʉː/
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /ʉː/, /ʉ/, /ʊ/

u

  1. The twenty-first letter of the Norwegian alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  • (phoneme): IPA(key): /u/, (after /n/ or /m/) /ũ/

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-fifth letter of the Nupe alphabet, written in the Latin script.

u f (plural us)

  1. u (the letter u, U)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *u.

u

  1. denotes approximate location; by, at; with [with genitive]
  • Czech: u

u

  1. Alternative form of v (often before labial consonants)

From Latin ubi.

u

  1. Alternative form of ou (“where”)

    • c. 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou‎[11]:

      Dez ke Richart le sout, un espie enveia
      Saveir u Thiebaut ert, e combien gent il a.

      As soon as Richard knew about it, he sent a spy
      to know where Thibalt was, and how many people he had with him.
  • Middle French: ou

From Latin u, v.

u

  1. u (letter)
  2. v (letter)
  • 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 Galician-Portuguese

edit

From Latin ubi.

u

  1. 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.

    • 1264, E. Portela Silva, editor, La región del obispado de Tuy en los siglos XII a XV, Santiago: Tip. El Eco Franciscano, page 364:

      pelo camino que vay peraa devesa de valadares asy como vay o porto do rrio u pasan os carros

      by the road that goes to the wood of Valadares as it goes by the ford of the river where the carts cross
  • Galician: u
  • Portuguese: u (obsolete)

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *u. First attested in the 14th century.

u [with genitive]

  1. denotes approximate location; by, at
  2. denotes subject of action; at
  3. denotes movement away; away, out of
  4. denotes topographic region; in; at, on
  5. denotes property; in the homestead of
  6. denotes position in a group; among, between
  7. denotes possession; in the possession of
  8. with być; creates a possessive phrase meaning "to have"
  9. denotes witness or subject of some action; in front of, on behalf of
  10. denotes opinion; in one's eyes, in one's opinion, according to
  11. denotes person from whom someone receives; from
  12. denotes person being asked or requested; from, of
  13. denotes object to which something belongs; 's
  14. denotes perpetrator or performer of an action to create a passive voice; by
  15. denotes time; during, at the time of
  • Masurian: û
  • Polish: u
  • Silesian: u
  • Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “u”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
  • B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “u”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

The Polish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the history of Polish orthography article on Wikipedia for more, and u for development of the glyph itself.

u (upper case U, lower case)

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

u n (indeclinable)

  1. u, close back rounded vowel

Inherited from Old Polish u.

u [with genitive]

  1. denotes a part belonging to a larger whole; of
    palce u nogi ― toes (literally, “fingers of the foot”)
  2. denotes near position; by, at
    Synonyms: blisko, koło, niedaleko, opodal, podle, w pobliżu
    u drzwi ― at the door
    u bram ― at the gates
  3. denotes position with something else; at, by; with; chez
    u Kasi ― at Kasia's
    u rodziców ― at one's parents
    u lekarza ― at the doctor's
    u dentysty ― at the dentist's
  4. denotes tutor or doer of an action; at, with; from
  5. denotes someone or something for which something else is named
    Near-synonyms: pośród, wpośród, wśród
  6. denotes someone or something about which something may apply; among; in
    u mężczyzn ― in men
    u dzikich zwierząt ― in wild animals
  7. denotes subject of an action; at

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), u is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 103 times in scientific texts, 27 times in news, 53 times in essays, 75 times in fiction, and 141 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 399 times, making it the 122nd most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[1]

  1. ^ Ida Kurcz (1990) “u”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 2, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 619
  • u in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • u in Polish dictionaries at PWN
  • Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “1. u”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
  • Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) “2. u”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
  • “U”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 07.03.2022
  • Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “u”, in Słownik języka polskiego
  • Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “u”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
  • J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1919), “u”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 7, Warsaw, page 195
  • u in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego
  • Rhymes: -u

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

u m (plural us)

  1. u (name of the letter U, u)

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

u

  1. (obsolete) where
    Synonym: onde

u m

  1. Eye dialect spelling of o.

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

u

  1. you (second-person plural subjective)

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. (International Standard) The twenty-eighth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.
  2. (Pan-Vlax) The twenty-ninth letter of the Romani alphabet, written in the Latin script.

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-sixth letter of the Romanian alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script.

From Latin aut.

u

  1. or

u

  1. water

From Proto-Turkic *ol.

u

  1. Third person singular pronoun; he, she, it.
  • Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “vu”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow
  • 林莲云 [Lin Lianyun] (1985) “u”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar]‎[12], Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, →OCLC, page 53
  • Ma, Chengjun, Han, Lianye, Ma, Weisheng (December 2010) “u”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary] (in Chinese), 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 362
  • Yakup, Abdurishid (2002) “u”, in An Ili Salar Vocabulary: Introduction and a Provisional Salar-English Lexicon‎[13], Tokyo: University of Tokyo, →ISBN, page 41

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The eighteenth letter of the Scottish Gaelic alphabet, written in the Latin script. It is preceded by t. Its traditional name is ur (“heather”).

See Translingual section.

  • (uppercase) U

u (Cyrillic spelling у)

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

From Proto-Slavic *vъ(n).

u (Cyrillic spelling у)

  1. (+ locative case) in, at (without change of position, answering the question gdjȅ/gdȅ)
    biti u školi ― to be in school
    u c(ij)elom društvu ― in the whole society
  2. (+ accusative case) to, into (with change of position, answering the question kùda)
    ići u školu ― to go to school
    putovati u Ameriku ― to travel to America
  3. (+ accusative case) 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?
  4. (+ locative case) in, during (in expressions concerning time)
    u jednom danu ― in one day
    u mladosti ― during one's youth

From Proto-Slavic *u.

u (Cyrillic spelling у)

  1. (+ genitive case) chez

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

From the lenition of lu, from the apheresis of Vulgar Latin *illu, from Latin illum, from ille.

  • lu (liquid form)

u m sg (f a, plural i)

  1. (masculine singular definite article) the
    Synonym: lu
  • As for other Romance languages, such as Neapolitan or Portuguese, Sicilian definite articles have undergone a consonant lenition that has led to the phonetic fall of the initial l. The use of this illiquid variant has not yet made the use of liquid variants disappear, but today it is still the prevalent use in speech and writing.
  • In the case of the production of literary texts, such as singing or poetry, or of formal and institutional texts, resorting to "liquid articles" and "liquid articulated prepositions" confers greater euphony to the text, although it may sound a form of courtly recovery.
  • Illiquid definite articles can be phonetically absorbed by the following noun. I.e: l'arancinu (liquid) and ârancinu (illiquid).
Sicilian articles
Masculine singular definite article Feminine singular definite article Masculine and feminine plural definite article
Definite articles (liquid) lu la li
Definite articles (illiquid) u a i
Definite articles nu
(also: un,'n) 		na

See etymology 2.

  • lu (liquid form)

u m sg (plural i, female a)

  1. (accusative) him
    Synonym: lu
    U canusci? ― Do you know him?
  2. (accusative) it, this or that thing
    Synonym: lu
    Quannu tû desi. ― When I gave it to you.
  • This pronoun can blend in contracted forms with other particles, especially other personal pronominal particles.
Sicilian pronominal particles
Masculine singular pronominal particles Feminine singular pronominal particles Masculine and feminine plural pronominal particles
mi mû mâ mî
ti tû tâ tî
ci ci u ci a cî
ni nû nâ nî
vi vû vâ vî
ci ci u ci a cî
  • IPA(key): /ˈu/
  • Rhymes: -u
  • Syllabification: u

The Silesian orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. No earlier script is known. See the Silesian language article on Wikipedia for more, and u for development of the glyph itself.

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-ninth letter of the Silesian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Inherited from Old Polish u.

u [with genitive]

  1. denotes approximate location; by, at; with
  2. denotes a part belonging to a larger whole; of
    Synonym: przi
  • u in silling.org

u (upper case U)

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

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *u.

u

This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

  • “u”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

u

  1. to
  2. for
  • 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
  • IPA(key): /u/ [u]
  • Rhymes: -u
  • Syllabification: u

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-second letter of the Spanish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

u f (plural úes)

  1. Name of the letter U

u

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

u

  1. Romanization of 𒌋

u

  1. (uncommon, archaic) you are; thou art
    u hali gani? ― how are you doing?
    Pepo waliwatoka watu wengi, wakapiga kelele wakisema: "Wewe u Mwana wa Mungu!" ― Demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!"

This term is archaic except in the common greeting u hali gani. Along with m and ni it is not conjugated.

Letter name
Phoneme

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

Borrowed from Spanish u. Each pronunciation has a different source:

  • Filipino alphabet pronunciation is influenced by English u.
  • Abakada alphabet pronunciation is influenced by the Baybayin character ᜂ (u).
  • Abecedario pronunciation is from Spanish u.
  • (Standard Tagalog)
    • IPA(key): /ˈju/ [ˈju] (letter name, Filipino alphabet)
    • IPA(key): /ˈʔu/ [ˈʔu] (letter name, Abakada alphabet, Abecedario)
    • IPA(key): /ˈu/ [ˈu] (phoneme, stressed)
    • IPA(key): /ˈu/ [ˈu] (phoneme, unstressed)
  • Rhymes: -u
  • Syllabification: u

u (lower case, upper case U, Baybayin spelling ᜌᜓ)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Filipino alphabet), called yu and written in the Latin script.

u (lower case, upper case U, Baybayin spelling ᜂ)

  1. The eighteenth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abakada alphabet), called u and written in the Latin script.
  2. (historical) The twenty-fourth letter of the Tagalog alphabet (the Abecedario), called u and written in the Latin script.

u (Baybayin spelling ᜂ)

  1. the name of the Latin-script letter U/u, in the Abakada alphabet
  2. (historical) the name of the Latin-script letter U/u, in the Abecedario
  • “u”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018

u (upper case U)

  1. A letter of the Tlingit alphabet, written in the Latin script.

u

  1. Second-person singular pronoun: you (singular)

Torres Strait Creole

edit

u

  1. (eastern dialect) a mature coconut

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

u (lower case, upper case U)

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

u

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter U/u.
  • (phoneme) IPA(key): /u/, /uː/

u (upper case U)

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

u

  1. moon
  2. month

u

  1. Latin (ULY) transcription of ئۇ (u)

u

  1. Latin (ULY) transcription of ئۇ (u)
Other scripts
Cyrillic у‍
Latin ‍
Perso-Arabic

From Proto-Turkic *ol.

u

  1. he, she, it

u (plural ular)

  1. that
    Antonym: bu
    U eshik. ― That is a door.

u

  1. that
    Antonym: bu
    u eshik ― that door

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

u • (𡠄)

  1. (Northern Vietnam) mother; mom

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

(classifier khối, cục) u • (幽, 𢉾)

  1. a nodule; protuberance; swelling
  2. (oncology, pathology) a tumor; neoplasm

u

  1. to get bumpy; to swell

u

  1. (children's games) a game consists of two teams, where the offensive player has to chant ⟨u⟩ during offense

From Portuguese u.

u

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

u

  1. or
  • (in front of vowels) ud
  • (with grave accent to indicate otherwise unpredictable short vowel): ù
  • (with acute accent to indicate unusually stressed short vowel): ú
  • (with circumflex to indicate otherwise unpredictable or unusually stressed long vowel or disyllabicity): û
  • (with diaeresis to indicate disyllabicity): ü

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-eighth letter of the Welsh alphabet, called u and written in the Latin script. It is preceded by th and followed by w.
  • u cannot mutate but, being a vowel, does take h-prothesis, for example with the word uchelwydd (“mistletoe”):
  • Digraph sequences: uw

u f (plural uau)

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

u (upper case U)

  1. A letter of the Yele alphabet.
  • The digraph ⟨uu⟩ transcribes the long vowel /uː/
  • The digraph ⟨꞉u⟩ transcribes the nasal vowel /ũ/
  • The trigraph ⟨꞉uu⟩ transcribes the long nasal vowel /ũː/

u (lower case, upper case U)

  1. The twenty-third letter of the Yoruba alphabet, called ú and written in the Latin script.

ú

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

u

  1. him, her, it (third-person singular object pronoun following a monosyllabic verb with a high-tone /u/)

ú

  1. him, her, it (third-person singular object pronoun following a monosyllabic verb with a low- or mid-tone /u/)

Affirmative subject pronouns

singular plural or honorific
1st person mo a
2nd person o ẹ
3rd person ó wọ́n

Negative subject pronouns

singular plural or honorific
1st person mi / n a
2nd person o ẹ
3rd person [pronoun dropped] wọn

Object pronouns

singular plural or honorific
1st person mi wa
2nd person ọ / ẹ yín
3rd person [preceding vowel repeated for monosyllabic verbs] / ẹ̀ wọn

Note: except for yín, object pronouns have a high tone following a low or mid tone monosyllabic verb, and a mid tone following a high tone. For complex verbs, the tone does not change.

Emphatic pronouns

singular plural or honorific
1st person èmi àwa
2nd person ìwọ ẹ̀yin
3rd person òun àwọn

u

  1. sibling
  • Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, pages 41, 60

u (lower case, upper case U)

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