Jump To:

• U
  U

  noun

  the 21st letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.
• u.
  u.

  abbreviation

  and.
• U.
  U.

  abbreviation

  and.
• u
  u

  noun

  the 21st letter and fifth vowel of the modern English alphabet

U

¹ American  

[yoo] / ju /

Or u

noun

• U's,
  plural
• Us,
  plural
• u's,
  plural
• us
  plural

1. the 21st letter of the English alphabet, a vowel.

2. any spoken sound represented by the letter U or u, as in music, rule, curious, put, or jug.

3. something having the shape of a U .

4. a written or printed representation of the letter U or u.

5. a device, as a printer's type, for reproducing the letter U or u.

---

U ² American  

[yoo] / ju /

pronoun

Informal.

1. you.

   Shoes Fixed While U Wait.

---

U ³ American  

[yoo] / ju /

adjective

Informal.

1. characteristic of or appropriate to the upper class, especially of Great Britain.

---

U ⁴ American  

[oo] / u /

noun

1. a Burmese title of respect applicable to a man: used before the proper name.

---

U ⁵ American  

Symbol.

1. (on a packaged product) certified as kosher by the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations.

2. the 21st in order or in a series.

3. Chemistry. uranium.

4. Biochemistry. uracil.

5. Thermodynamics. internal energy.

6. British. a designation for motion pictures determined as being acceptable for viewing by all age groups.

---

u. ⁶ American  

abbreviation

1. and.

---

u. ⁷ American  

abbreviation

1. uniform.

2. unit.

3. unsatisfactory.

4. upper.

---

U. ⁸ American  

abbreviation

1. and.

---

U. ⁹ American  

abbreviation

1. uncle.

2. uniform.

3. union.

4. unit.

5. united.

6. university.

7. unsatisfactory.

8. upper.

---

U ¹ British  

symbol

1. united

2. unionist

3. university

4. 1. universal (used to describe a category of film certified as suitable for viewing by anyone)

   2. ( as modifier )

      a U film

5. chem uranium

6. biochem uracil

---

abbreviation

1. text messaging you

adjective

1. old-fashioned (esp of language habits) characteristic of or appropriate to the upper class Compare non-U

U. ² British  

abbreviation

1. maths union

2. unit

3. united

4. university

5. upper

---

u ³ British  

/ juː /

noun

1. the 21st letter and fifth vowel of the modern English alphabet

2. any of several speech sounds represented by this letter, in English as in mute, cut, hurt, sure, pull, or minus

3. 1. something shaped like a U

   2. ( in combination )

      a U-bolt

      a U-turn

---

U ⁴ British  

/ uː /

noun

1. a Burmese title of respect for men, equivalent to Mr

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• U's
  plural
• Us
  plural
• u's
  plural
• us
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of U²

First recorded in 1840–45

Origin of U³

First recorded in 1950–55; u(pper class)

Origin of U⁴

First recorded in 1930–35; from Burmese ʔú, roughly “Mister, Uncle,” used for senior men and monks

Origin of u.⁶

From the German word und

Origin of U.⁸

From the German word und

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

U u. U. u U's Us u's us

The chief executive of Coopérative U said several of its supermarkets had been hit by the "extremely serious and unprecedented" attack.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Yet she eventually found success writing songs for her friend Ariana Grande — chart-topping hits like “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings” that set up Monét for a breakthrough as a performer with “Jaguar II.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026

In December, the band signed with Republic Records and released its first single, “What U Want.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

The U of A will lead nine NASA-approved investigations using Roman data, bringing in more than $2 million in funding.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026

We entered into what was a U of Wyoming college party on the local Saturday night, something that people our age do quite frequently, but that we do not.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz

“Great! Miss u. See u soon. <3,” she replied.

From Slate ● Jan. 29, 2022

"Thank you. Love u. Showtime!" the message read.

From Fox News ● Jan. 10, 2022

“My Prayers are with u. I’ve lost 1 of the best coaches I’ve ever had.”

From Washington Times ● Aug. 8, 2021

“Tom, Harry again! Really need to speak to u. U do not need to apologize, we understand the circumstances but ‘going public’ will only make the situation worse.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 20, 2020

“Thought I knew u. Looks like I was wrong. One day ur gonna turn around and realize what u thru away.”

From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli

When the instructions are copied into RNA, the letter T is replaced by U. Consequently, the corresponding stop codons in RNA are written as UAA, UAG, and UGA.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

Its population of Torrey pine trees is one of just two spots in the U. S. where that species is found.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

The opinion then states, “If the officers learn that the individual they stopped is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, they promptly let the individual go.”

From Salon ● Feb. 12, 2026

"Kithul is not unique to Sri Lanka -- it is found across South and Southeast Asia," KDB chairwoman M. U. Gayani told AFP.

From Barron's ● Feb. 10, 2026

He caught Boaz by the shoulder, and for a moment they stopped, just before the intersection that would have put him on Avenue U. “Are they, or are they not?”

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

He told her to "put 120£ in this ac… please thank u baby".

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

“Buy tickets rn,” he said, “or u might miss ur chance to see me perform live bruh!”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026

"Googled u after last email," she wrote in October 2011.

From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026

“You promissed me, u gave me the hope, I believed u,” wrote the woman.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

Bre said she invited u 2 to the Slam.

From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone

But he defended Better U’s model, saying that it’s designed around careful screening, conservative dosing, required preparation appointments and safety protocols like blood-pressure monitoring.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026

“If I was to describe Big U’s role in rap, he would definitely be the godfather,” Khalifa said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 19, 2025

Danny Cowley won't care a jot about this, but the U’s don’t have the best record against Mansfield in recent seasons.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2024

"Expectations for a flood of fresh funding into Man U's coffers for a new stadium and new players are being revised."

From Reuters ● Oct. 16, 2023

The festive annual highlight of this scheme took place in the week before Kim Jong U’s birthday on February 16.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

A London-based non-profit organisation, People Like Us, is raising awareness of people's legal right to challenge automated decisions when they disagree with the outcome.

From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026

Smith, the SMU student, is president of the college’s It’s On Us chapter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

It has done ads for Virgin and Toys R Us.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

It is has been streamed on Spotify about 246 million times, while Just The Two of Us has racked up 948 million plays.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

Us not going straight to Mexico was happening to me, too.

From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña

Webster is the man definitively responsible for removing the u’s from “colour” and “honour,” for example.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 19, 2025

And then, every fourth January, we’re suddenly expected to say it, to spell it, to know where to place the u’s and a’s.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2017

Or ‘you are sooo ugly’ — but with 10 u’s, 10 g’s, 10 l’s, like they’re all screaming it at someone.”

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2010

Mother and son shared a strong sense that certain colors and certain letters of the alphabet are related—p was an unripe apple green, for instance; y's and u's had a brassy "olive sheen."

From Time Magazine Archive

Let u's face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short.

From "Animal Farm: A Fairy Story" by George Orwell

"The underwater location allows us to implement systematic, large-scale surveys," Seama explains.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026

“And frankly, over the years, because we crisscrossed with the Dodgers so much, more people know us in California than they would otherwise.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026

This is when our brain makes us think the Moon looks bigger because it is viewed alongside objects on the horizon such as buildings and trees.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

We are informed quite often about what the show is not, initially by Margaret, a delightful little white-haired lady who talks us through the first episode.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

We all look at one another, and let’s just say not all of us are excited about that prospect—least of all Aunt J. Grandma immediately says she has a lot to do.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---