U (Indic)

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U is a vowel of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, U is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter ng after having gone through the Gupta letter . As an Indic vowel, U comes in two normally distinct forms: 1) as an independent letter, and 2) as a vowel sign for modifying a base consonant. Bare consonants without a modifying vowel sign have the inherent "A" vowel.

U
U
Example glyphs
Bengali–AssameseU
TibetanU
TamilU
Malayalam
Sinhala
Ashoka BrahmiU
DevanagariU
Cognates
Hebrewו
GreekϜ (Ϛ), Υ (Ȣ)
LatinF, V, U, W, Y, Ⅎ
CyrillicЅ, У (Ꙋ), Ѵ, Ю
Properties
Phonemic representation/u/ /ʊ/
IAST transliterationū Ū
ISCII code pointA8 (168)

Āryabhaṭa numeration

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Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The उ sign ु was used to modify a consonant's value ×104, but the vowel letter did not have an inherent value by itself.[1]

Historic U

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There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. U as found in standard Brahmi,   was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta  . Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian U   has an accompanying vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A. All other independent vowels, including U are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Brahmi U

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The Brahmi letter U  , is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Waw  , and is thus related to the modern Latin F, V, U, W, Y and Greek Upsilon.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi U can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi U historic forms
Ashoka
(3rd-1st c. BCE)
Girnar
(~150 BCE)
Kushana
(~150-250 CE)
Gujarat
(~250 CE)
Gupta
(~350 CE)
         

Tocharian U

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The Tocharian letter   is derived from the Brahmi  . Unlike some of the consonants, Tocharian vowels do not have a Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian consonants with U vowel marks
Ku Khu Gu Ghu Cu Chu Ju Jhu Nyu Ṭu Ṭhu Ḍu Ḍhu Ṇu
                     
Tu Thu Du Dhu Nu Pu Phu Bu Bhu Mu Yu Ru Lu Vu
                         
Śu Ṣu Su Hu
       

Kharoṣṭhī U

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The Kharoṣṭhī letter U is indicated with the vowel mark  . As an independent vowel, U is indicated by adding the vowel marks to the independent vowel letter A  .

Devanagari U

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Devanagari independent U and U vowel sign.

U () is a vowel of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter  , after having gone through the Gupta letter  . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter , and the Modi letter 𑘄.

Devanagari-using languages

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The Devanagari script is used to write the Hindi language, Sanskrit and the majority of Indo-Aryan languages. In most of these languages, उ is pronounced as [u]. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Bengali U

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Bengali independent U and U vowel sign.

U () is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter  , and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, उ.

Bengali script-using languages

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The Bengali script is used to write several languages of eastern India, notably the Bengali language and Assamese. In most languages, উ is pronounced as [u]. Like all Indic scripts, Bengali vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ɔ/ vowel.

Gujarati U

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Gujarati independent U and U vowel sign.

U () is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari U  , and ultimately the Brahmi letter  .

Gujarati-using languages

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The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઉ is pronounced as [u]. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel. In addition to the standard vowel sign, U forms a unique ligature when combined with the consonant R:

  • ર (r) + ઉ (u) gives the ligature ru:

 

Javanese U

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Telugu U

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Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign U.

U () is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter  . It is closely related to the Kannada letter . Like in other Indic scripts, Telugu vowels have two forms: and independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of Telugu consonant letters. Vowel signs in Telugu can interact with a base consonant in one of three ways: 1) the vowel sign touches or sits adjacent to the base consonant without modifying the shape of either 2) the vowel sign sits directly above the consonant, replacing its v-shaped headline, 3) the vowel sign and consonant interact, forming a ligature.

 
Telugu U vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Ku, Khu, Gu, Ghu and Ngu. As a right-side attaching vowel mark, it does not alter the shape of the underlying consonant, although there are variants of the vowel mark that attach in different ways.

Malayalam U

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Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign U.

U () is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter  , via the Grantha letter   u. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. Some vowel signs, such as U, can also form a ligature with some consonants, although this is much more common in old-style paḻaya lipi texts than in the modern reformed paḻaya lipi orthography.

 
Malayalam U vowel sign on ക, ഖ, ഗ, ഘ, & ങ: Ku, Khu, Gu, Ghu and Ngu in paḻaya lipi.

Odia U

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Odia independent vowel and vowel sign U.

U () is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter  , via the Siddhaṃ letter   u. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Odia usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Odia.

Kaithi U

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Kaithi independent vowel and vowel sign U.

U (𑂇) is a vowel of the Kaithi abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter  , via the Siddhaṃ letter   U. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Kaithi usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Kaithi.

Comparison of U

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The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including U, are related as well.

Comparison of U in different scripts
Aramaic
 
Kharoṣṭhī
𐨂
Ashoka Brahmi
 
Kushana Brahmi[a]
 
Tocharian[b]
 
Gupta Brahmi
 
Pallava
 
Kadamba
-
Bhaiksuki
𑰄
Siddhaṃ
 
Grantha
𑌉
Cham
Sinhala
Pyu /
Old Mon[c]
-
Tibetan
 
Newa
𑐄
Ahom
𑜤
Malayalam
Telugu
Burmese
Lepcha
Ranjana
 
Saurashtra
Dives Akuru
𑤄
Kannada
Kayah Li
Limbu
Soyombo[d]
𑩓
Khmer
ឧ / ុ
Tamil
 
Chakma
𑄅
Tai Tham
ᩏ / ᩩ
Meitei Mayek
Gaudi
-
Thai
Lao
Tai Le
Marchen
𑲲
Tirhuta
𑒅
New Tai Lue
Tai Viet
Aksara Kawi
-
'Phags-pa
Odia
Sharada
𑆇
Rejang
Batak
Buginese
Zanabazar Square
𑨃
Bengali-Assamese
 
Takri
𑚄
Javanese
Balinese
Makasar
𑻴
Hangul[e]
-
Northern Nagari
-
Dogri
𑠄
Laṇḍā
-
Sundanese
Baybayin
Modi
𑘄
Gujarati
Khojki
𑈃
Khudabadi
𑊴
Mahajani
𑅒
Tagbanwa
Devanagari
 
Nandinagari
𑦤
Kaithi
 
Gurmukhi
Multani
𑊂
Buhid
Canadian Syllabics[f]
-
Soyombo[g]
𑩓
Sylheti Nagari
Gunjala Gondi
𑵤
Masaram Gondi[h]
𑴄
Hanuno'o
Notes
  1. ^ The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms.
  2. ^ Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession.
  3. ^ Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
  4. ^ May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
  5. ^ The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida.
  6. ^ Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas.
  7. ^ May also be derived from Ranjana (see above)
  8. ^ Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.


Character encodings of U

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Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter U in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. U from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.

Character information
Preview      
Unicode name DEVANAGARI LETTER U BENGALI LETTER U TAMIL LETTER U TELUGU LETTER U ORIYA LETTER U KANNADA LETTER U MALAYALAM LETTER U GUJARATI LETTER U GURMUKHI LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 2313 U+0909 2441 U+0989 2953 U+0B89 3081 U+0C09 2825 U+0B09 3209 U+0C89 3337 U+0D09 2697 U+0A89 2569 U+0A09
UTF-8 224 164 137 E0 A4 89 224 166 137 E0 A6 89 224 174 137 E0 AE 89 224 176 137 E0 B0 89 224 172 137 E0 AC 89 224 178 137 E0 B2 89 224 180 137 E0 B4 89 224 170 137 E0 AA 89 224 168 137 E0 A8 89
Numeric character reference उ उ উ উ உ உ ఉ ఉ ଉ ଉ ಉ ಉ ഉ ഉ ઉ ઉ ਉ ਉ
ISCII 168 A8 168 A8 168 A8 168 A8 168 A8 168 A8 168 A8 168 A8 168 A8


Character information
Preview
Ashoka 
Kushana 
Gupta 
  𑌉
Unicode name BRAHMI LETTER U SIDDHAM LETTER U GRANTHA LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 69641 U+11009 71044 U+11584 70409 U+11309
UTF-8 240 145 128 137 F0 91 80 89 240 145 150 132 F0 91 96 84 240 145 140 137 F0 91 8C 89
UTF-16 55300 56329 D804 DC09 55301 56708 D805 DD84 55300 57097 D804 DF09
Numeric character reference 𑀉 𑀉 𑖄 𑖄 𑌉 𑌉


Character information
Preview 𑐄 𑰄 𑆇
Unicode name PHAGS-PA LETTER U NEWA LETTER U BHAIKSUKI LETTER U SHARADA LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 43103 U+A85F 70660 U+11404 72708 U+11C04 70023 U+11187
UTF-8 234 161 159 EA A1 9F 240 145 144 132 F0 91 90 84 240 145 176 132 F0 91 B0 84 240 145 134 135 F0 91 86 87
UTF-16 43103 A85F 55301 56324 D805 DC04 55303 56324 D807 DC04 55300 56711 D804 DD87
Numeric character reference ꡟ ꡟ 𑐄 𑐄 𑰄 𑰄 𑆇 𑆇


Character information
Preview
Unicode name MYANMAR LETTER U TAI THAM LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 4133 U+1025 6735 U+1A4F
UTF-8 225 128 165 E1 80 A5 225 169 143 E1 A9 8F
Numeric character reference ဥ ဥ ᩏ ᩏ


Character information
Preview
Unicode name KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL QU
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 6055 U+17A7
UTF-8 225 158 167 E1 9E A7
Numeric character reference ឧ ឧ


Character information
Preview 𑄅 𑤄
Unicode name SINHALA LETTER UYANNA CHAKMA LETTER U TAI LE LETTER U DIVES AKURU LETTER U SAURASHTRA LETTER U CHAM LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 3467 U+0D8B 69893 U+11105 6503 U+1967 71940 U+11904 43142 U+A886 43522 U+AA02
UTF-8 224 182 139 E0 B6 8B 240 145 132 133 F0 91 84 85 225 165 167 E1 A5 A7 240 145 164 132 F0 91 A4 84 234 162 134 EA A2 86 234 168 130 EA A8 82
UTF-16 3467 0D8B 55300 56581 D804 DD05 6503 1967 55302 56580 D806 DD04 43142 A886 43522 AA02
Numeric character reference උ උ 𑄅 𑄅 ᥧ ᥧ 𑤄 𑤄 ꢆ ꢆ ꨂ ꨂ


Character information
Preview 𑘄 𑦤 𑩓 𑵤  
Unicode name MODI LETTER U NANDINAGARI LETTER U SOYOMBO VOWEL SIGN U SYLOTI NAGRI LETTER U GUNJALA GONDI LETTER U KAITHI LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 71172 U+11604 72100 U+119A4 72275 U+11A53 43011 U+A803 73060 U+11D64 69767 U+11087
UTF-8 240 145 152 132 F0 91 98 84 240 145 166 164 F0 91 A6 A4 240 145 169 147 F0 91 A9 93 234 160 131 EA A0 83 240 145 181 164 F0 91 B5 A4 240 145 130 135 F0 91 82 87
UTF-16 55301 56836 D805 DE04 55302 56740 D806 DDA4 55302 56915 D806 DE53 43011 A803 55303 56676 D807 DD64 55300 56455 D804 DC87
Numeric character reference 𑘄 𑘄 𑦤 𑦤 𑩓 𑩓 ꠃ ꠃ 𑵤 𑵤 𑂇 𑂇


Character information
Preview 𑒅
Unicode name TIRHUTA LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 70789 U+11485
UTF-8 240 145 146 133 F0 91 92 85
UTF-16 55301 56453 D805 DC85
Numeric character reference 𑒅 𑒅


Character information
Preview 𑚄 𑠄 𑈃 𑊴 𑅒 𑊂
Unicode name TAKRI LETTER U DOGRA LETTER U KHOJKI LETTER U KHUDAWADI LETTER U MAHAJANI LETTER U MULTANI LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 71300 U+11684 71684 U+11804 70147 U+11203 70324 U+112B4 69970 U+11152 70274 U+11282
UTF-8 240 145 154 132 F0 91 9A 84 240 145 160 132 F0 91 A0 84 240 145 136 131 F0 91 88 83 240 145 138 180 F0 91 8A B4 240 145 133 146 F0 91 85 92 240 145 138 130 F0 91 8A 82
UTF-16 55301 56964 D805 DE84 55302 56324 D806 DC04 55300 56835 D804 DE03 55300 57012 D804 DEB4 55300 56658 D804 DD52 55300 56962 D804 DE82
Numeric character reference 𑚄 𑚄 𑠄 𑠄 𑈃 𑈃 𑊴 𑊴 𑅒 𑅒 𑊂 𑊂


Character information
Preview
Unicode name BALINESE LETTER UKARA BATAK LETTER U JAVANESE LETTER U SUNDANESE LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 6921 U+1B09 7141 U+1BE5 43400 U+A988 7045 U+1B85
UTF-8 225 172 137 E1 AC 89 225 175 165 E1 AF A5 234 166 136 EA A6 88 225 174 133 E1 AE 85
Numeric character reference ᬉ ᬉ ᯥ ᯥ ꦈ ꦈ ᮅ ᮅ


Character information
Preview 𑴄
Unicode name TAGALOG LETTER U TAGBANWA LETTER U BUHID LETTER U HANUNOO LETTER U MASARAM GONDI LETTER U
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 5890 U+1702 5986 U+1762 5954 U+1742 5922 U+1722 72964 U+11D04
UTF-8 225 156 130 E1 9C 82 225 157 162 E1 9D A2 225 157 130 E1 9D 82 225 156 162 E1 9C A2 240 145 180 132 F0 91 B4 84
UTF-16 5890 1702 5986 1762 5954 1742 5922 1722 55303 56580 D807 DD04
Numeric character reference ᜂ ᜂ ᝢ ᝢ ᝂ ᝂ ᜢ ᜢ 𑴄 𑴄



References

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  1. ^ Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 447–450. ISBN 0-471-39340-1.
  2. ^ Bühler, Georg (1898). "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. ^ Asiatic Society of Bengal (1838). Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Princeton Theological Seminary Library. Calcutta : Printed at the Baptist Mission Press [etc.]