About the letter U in fancy fonts
U is a cup shape, and it's one of the friendliest letters to style. Bubble โ and double-struck ๐ keep it round and clean, while gothic ๐ sharpens the curve into something closer to a blackletter "n" upside down.
Copy any style below. Because U and V share a history, some styles make them look surprisingly alike, so there's a tip on that too.
Where the letter U comes from
For most of history, U didn't exist as a separate letter. Latin wrote one letter, V, for both the "u" vowel and the "v" consonant. Medieval scribes developed a rounded form, u, and a pointed form, v, but they chose between them by position in the word, not by sound. Printers only settled on U for the vowel and V for the consonant in the 16th and 17th centuries, which is why U and V sit next to each other in the alphabet.
How U behaves in different styles
U has no Letterlike exceptions. All of its script, gothic and double-struck forms are in the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols block.
The one risk is U vs V in gothic and script. In fraktur, lowercase ๐ฒ and ๐ณ are both built from similar broken strokes, and some readers can't tell them apart. In script, ๐ and ๐ can look similar at small sizes. If your name has both letters (like "Uriel" or "Ava"), bold serif or double-struck makes the difference clear.
Unicode characters for U and u
Each style is a separate Unicode character. Names and code points below come from the Unicode Character Database. A dash means Unicode has no character for that combination.
| Style | Capital U | Lowercase u |
|---|---|---|
| Script | ๐ฐ U+1D4B0 ยท Mathematical Script Capital U | ๐ U+1D4CA ยท Mathematical Script Small U |
| Bold script | ๐ค U+1D4E4 ยท Mathematical Bold Script Capital U | ๐พ U+1D4FE ยท Mathematical Bold Script Small U |
| Fraktur (gothic) | ๐ U+1D518 ยท Mathematical Fraktur Capital U | ๐ฒ U+1D532 ยท Mathematical Fraktur Small U |
| Bold fraktur | ๐ U+1D580 ยท Mathematical Bold Fraktur Capital U | ๐ U+1D59A ยท Mathematical Bold Fraktur Small U |
| Double-struck | ๐ U+1D54C ยท Mathematical Double-Struck Capital U | ๐ฆ U+1D566 ยท Mathematical Double-Struck Small U |
| Bold serif | ๐ U+1D414 ยท Mathematical Bold Capital U | ๐ฎ U+1D42E ยท Mathematical Bold Small U |
| Italic serif | ๐ U+1D448 ยท Mathematical Italic Capital U | ๐ข U+1D462 ยท Mathematical Italic Small U |
| Bold sans | ๐จ U+1D5E8 ยท Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold Capital U | ๐ U+1D602 ยท Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold Small U |
| Monospace | ๐ U+1D684 ยท Mathematical Monospace Capital U | ๐ U+1D69E ยท Mathematical Monospace Small U |
| Circled | โ U+24CA ยท Circled Latin Capital Letter U | โค U+24E4 ยท Circled Latin Small Letter U |
| Negative circled | ๐ ค U+1F164 ยท Negative Circled Latin Capital Letter U | — |
| Squared | ๐ U+1F144 ยท Squared Latin Capital Letter U | — |
| Negative squared | ๐ U+1F184 ยท Negative Squared Latin Capital Letter U | — |
| Fullwidth | ๏ผต U+FF35 ยท Fullwidth Latin Capital Letter U | ๏ฝ U+FF55 ยท Fullwidth Latin Small Letter U |
| Small capital | แด U+1D1C ยท Latin Letter Small Capital U | — |
Where people use a fancy U
- "You" shorthand. A single styled ๐ or ๐ in place of "you" is common in casual captions and song-lyric posts.
- University and study accounts. Double-struck ๐ and monospace ๐ suit uni, study and campus pages.
- Unboxing content. Bold sans ๐จ๐ป๐ฏ๐ผ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ด makes a clear heading for review posts.
FAQs about the letter U in different fonts
Why are U and V next to each other in the alphabet?
They were one letter in Latin, written V. The two forms were only separated into distinct letters in the 16th and 17th centuries, so U was placed right before V.
Why do gothic u and v look the same?
Fraktur builds both letters from similar broken strokes, so ๐ฒ and ๐ณ look alike to modern readers. Use bold or double-struck if you need them distinguishable.
Is there a small-caps u?
Yes: แด (Latin Letter Small Capital U, U+1D1C), in the Phonetic Extensions block. It's well supported on modern devices.