Definition of
U
- (noun, communication) the 21st letter of the Roman alphabet
- (noun, substance) a heavy toxic silvery-white radioactive metallic element; occurs in many isotopes; used for nuclear fuels and nuclear weapons
- (noun, substance) a base containing nitrogen that is found in RNA (but not in DNA) and derived from pyrimidine; pairs with adenine
- (adj, all) (chiefly British) of or appropriate to the upper classes especially in language use
via WordNet, Princeton University
Synonyms of U
Alternate forms of U
Hyponyms: uranium 235, uranium 238
Hypernyms: alphabetic character, base, letter, letter of the alphabet, metal, metallic element, nucleotide
Origin of the word U
- for historical evolution, see V. Used punningly for you by 1588 ["Love's Labour's Lost," V.i.60], not long after the pronunciation shift that made the vowel a homonym of the pronoun. As a simple shorthand (without intentional word-play), it is recorded from 1862. Common in business abbreviations since 1923 (e.g. U-Haul, attested from 1951). more
via Online Etymology Dictionary, ©2001 Douglas Harper