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. Its English name is pronounced [ˈjuː], like the words you and ewe.

Use in English
u normally represents three back vowel sounds, one of which (û) has a variant with an initial semivowel, 'yû', [ju].

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, [ʌ] in standard British English.

Compare lúck and loòk (both pronounced ‘look’ in demotic speech in Northern England): ú, because it is a single letter, likes to be followed by -ck.

A ú is written after an ò, though there is still only the one sound, in 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, vácuum, Canûte, pûre, cûre, ukelèlê, bûte, cûte, fûtile, mûte, pûtrid, queûe (*kyoô = cûe) and regarded as the more correct pronunciation in stûpid, nûclear, nûde. Pronounced oô by nearly all English speakers: Lûke, lûnar, flûe chimney = flû influenza, blûe, glûe, rûde, rûle, rûmour, Rûfus, Rûpert, accrûe, scrûple. Pronounced 'oô' by many Americans but with 'y', [ju], by nearly all British: tûne, tûbe, dûty.

Pronunciation depending on region and idiolect: lûred, lûrid, lûcid, Lithuânia, sûit, Surinám.

The sound with the invisible 'y', [j], can also be spelt eû: neûrotic, Eûrope, pneumônia, eûphony, 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: soûp, groûp, throûgh, roûble, 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).

u is almost always the letter that follows q, where it is pronounced w: quêen, quénch, quâke, quíll, quést. Like w, it has an effect on the following a, making it sound like ŏ or ó:

uå sounding like wŏ: quårter, quårtz, squåll, quartét, quårt.

ùa sounding like wó: sqùalor, qùantity, qùadrangle, qùarrel.

In some words, mostly from Spanish, u is pronounced w: Nicarágua (-gwə), marijuàna (*mariyəwànə), iguàna (*igwànə), Pápua (*Pápwə or *Pápuwə).

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 America.

-us is an ending with the schwa sound, most often in names: Dêlius, Míngus, Tåurus, Sagittãrius, Vênus, Sírius, Cánopus, Aquãrius, Pándarus, Lûpus, Cêtus, Arctûrus, Jûlius, Crássus, Cássius, Vílnius, Epicûrus, Confûcius and also in nouns: ábacus, sánctus, nímbus, sýllabus, ómnibus, détritus, crôcus.

But it’s -ous with 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 'yûù' - as in contínûùm.

Irregular u’s
Also, in some BrE, u is pronounced f in lieuténant (*lefténant) - though in AmE and other BrE, it is a regular û.