double-u
Appearance
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Middle English doble W, in reference to the letter's origins as a ligature of two Us or Vs (V originally being a typographical variant of U).
The failure of the sequence /bljuː/ to simplify in this word's bisyllabic pronunciation (as in blue) is doubtlessly due to the letter U's name. For colloquial pronunciations without /l/, compare Straya.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈdʌbəljuː/, /ˌdʌb.əlˈjuː/, /ˈdʌbljuː/
- (colloquial or in rapid speech) IPA(key): /ˈdʌbəjuː/, /ˈdʌbjuː/, /ˈdʌbjə/
Audio (General American): (file)
Noun
[edit]double-u (plural double-ues)
- The name of the Latin-script letter W/w.
- Alternative name of the Latin-script digraph *UU*.
- (euphemistic) The WC; the toilet.
- 1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 234:
- She would try the front door, and try the back door, and look in the windows; and once she even looked in the double-u.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Malay: dabel yu
- → Portuguese: dáblio, dâblio (Portugal)
- → Russian: дабл-ю (dabl-ju)
- → Tagalog: dobolyu
Translations
[edit]name of the letter W, w
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
See also
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English 3-syllable words
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English multiword terms
- en:Latin letter names
- English euphemisms
- English terms with quotations