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ʊ

Latin Small Letter Upsilon Letter

ʊ is the Unicode character LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON (U+028A), often used for a specific sound in linguistics.

U+028A

ʊ is a lowercase Latin letter used in Unicode. It’s commonly associated with a particular phonetic vowel in linguistic notation. You can copy it directly or insert it by its code point.

Latin Small Letter Upsilon Letter Meaning

ʊ is the character known as LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON, Unicode code point U+028A. In many contexts, especially in phonetic and linguistic writing, ʊ is used as a vowel symbol rather than a standard Latin “u” letter. It may appear in dictionaries, transcription systems, and language-learning materials to represent a particular pronunciation. Outside of linguistics, it’s sometimes used as a stylistic character (for example, in typography or decorative text) because it has a distinct shape and is not commonly found in everyday alphabets. Use it when you need the specific Unicode character, not an approximation.

Common uses

  • Phonetic transcription in linguistics and language documentation
  • Marking vowel sounds in pronunciation guides and dictionaries
  • Typography projects that require the exact Unicode character U+028A
  • Writing or editing IPA-like text where this specific glyph is expected
  • Web and app content that must render the exact symbol consistently

Examples

ʊ Latin Small Letter Upsilon

  • ʊThe transcription uses ʊ to represent a specific vowel sound.
  • ʊAdd ʊ to the symbol list for phonetic examples.
  • ʊSome dictionaries format vowel entries with ʊ.
  • ʊCorrect Unicode input prevents ʊ from being replaced by a different character.
  • ʊIn this sentence, ʊ appears as part of a pronunciation note.

Variations

Technical codes

UnicodeU+028A
HTML Entityʊ
HTML Codeʊ
CSS\028A

FAQ

What does the Latin Small Letter Upsilon letter mean?

ʊ is the character known as LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON, Unicode code point U+028A. In many contexts, especially in phonetic and linguistic writing, ʊ is used as a vowel symbol rather than a standard Latin “u” letter. It may appear in dictionaries, transcription systems, and language-learning materials to represent a particular pronunciation. Outside of linguistics, it’s sometimes used as a stylistic character (for example, in typography or decorative text) because it has a distinct shape and is not commonly found in everyday alphabets. Use it when you need the specific Unicode character, not an approximation.

What Unicode character is ʊ?

ʊ is LATIN SMALL LETTER UPSILON, with Unicode code point U+028A.

How do I copy ʊ for use in web or documents?

Copy the character directly (ʊ). You can also use its HTML entity ʊ or escapes like \\028A / \\u{028A}.

Is ʊ the same as the regular letter “u”?

No. ʊ is a distinct Unicode character (U+028A) and should be used when the exact symbol is required.

Where is ʊ commonly used?

It’s often used in linguistic/phonetic transcription to represent a particular vowel sound.