U ::
U () 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 t