u

u · character, noun¹

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.

U · noun, adjective, preposition²

An abbreviation of a word or term beginning with the letter U. Adjective sense 1 (“characteristic of the upper classes”) was coined by British linguist Alan S. C. Ross (1907–1980) in a 1954 article, and popularized by the English journalist and writer Nancy Mitford (1904–1973).

U · proper noun³

See Ü.

U · noun⁴

1. Burmese · borrowed fromဦး
2. English todayU

Borrowed from Burmese ဦး (u:).