English spellings/Catalogs/U
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Common misspellings |
This page lists pronunciations of English words that begin with U. To see a different letter navigate with the table above. The apostrophe is treated as the last letter of the alphabet, after Z.
For a pronunciation key, click on the blue "Catalogs" link below the article title.[e]
Û = yoû person
UÈFA *yu-wâfə (≈ BrE yoû wâfer), *yu-wêfə
Ugánda Yû-, BrE = yoû gánder; some AmE Ugànda
uh *ə (the schwa sound alone), úh *ú, AmE equivalent to BrE ër
úh ôh oh, no!
uhúh yes = uh húh, uh-huh, *ú-hú, *ə-hə; according to the Urban Dictionary website, one must not confuse this with uh-uh, which is presumably a variant of úh ôh, above, as it means no [1]
Uìghur *Wêeger, rhyming with êager, Sêeger
Ûíst *Yûwist
Ûkip *Yûkip (officially all capitals)
Ukrâine (-âine, not -âne) = yoû crâne
ukulèlê, ukelèlê *yûkə-lâylêe
últimate
ultimâtum
Ûlyssês *Yoôlisêez
umbílical
ùmlàùt *oòmlòwt
ún- not is not a word, so adds a hyphen when not joined to a word
unbéarable
unbêatable
unchàrted unmapped, unknown, cf. unchàrtered charterless
únderdog one word
úndergròund adjective before noun, metro, one word; otherwise under gròund
underlîe
underrâted -rr-
understánd one word
undertâke
únder wây or underwây
undesîrable
undo -û
undûe -yu
ÛNICEF YÛ-
únidéntified
ûnít yû-
unîte yû-
unîted
ûnity yû-
unknôwn - silent k, so lengthened 'double' n sounded: *ún-nôwn
unnôticed - two n’s sounded
unpálatable
unprécedented (-préss-), cf. président (préz-)
unscâthed -dhd
untíl
untîtled no ún-, cf. entîtled yes
únto *úntû, unlike ínto and ónto, used in modern English only in certain set expressions (e.g. do únto òthers *dû úntû úthers, tâke únto themsélves)
unwìêldy, cf. wìeld, wêir, wêird
upón on, time, cf. úp ón
úprŏar
ür- original = ër pause
Ûral Yû-
Urálic Yû-
Urânus *Yərânəss, traditionally: *Yùrənəss is a euphemism to avoid sounding like your ânus, though it sounds like ûrine us
ürban town ër-
urbâne civilised
ürchin
Ürdu, Ûrdu
Urîah Hêep Dickens, band cf. hêap pile
ûríne yû-
urînal yû-
ürn ashes = ëarn money = ërne eagle
Ürquhart -quh- *Ürkət, *Ürcàrt, *Ïrk-heàrt
Ürsula -syələ or palatalised to -shələ
Ùruguaŷ Yù- or Yû-
ÛS America *yû-wéss, cf. ús we; American usage insists on 'U.S.', which avoids confusion with 'us' in uppercase contexts, such as tickers
ûse Usual use: noun *yoôss as in Ẁhat ís the ûse?, verb *yoôz as in Ûse mîne; hence the pronunciation of ûses depends on whether it is the singular verb *yoôziz or the plural noun *yoôssiz. In Díd hê ûse to gô thére?, however, ûse *yoôss is an infinitive verb, not a noun. (While no difference in pronunciation is distinguishable, being unvoiced *yoôstə in both cases, some prefer to write Díd (hê) ûsed to—or in the negative dídn't (hê) ûsed to—albeit ungrammatically as díd and ûsed are both in the past tense, against the normal rules.)
ûsed use *yoôzd as in ûsed càrs; habituated *yoôst as in Î’m ûsed to thát and wê ûsed to gô thére (compare ûsed to, *yoôstu, *yoôstə, and ûse to, *yoôztu, a much rarer imperative: Ûse [this in order] to...)
usürp yu-
ûsury y-
Ûtàh *Yû-
Ûtàhn, Ûtahan
uténsil rhymes with péncil and sténcil
Utôpia Yû-, cf. eûlogy, also yû-
Uttóxeter Yû-