v

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See also V, and Appendix:Variations of "v"

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[ Translingual

The letter v

[ Etymology 1

Miniscule variation of Latin V, from seventh century Old Latin adoption of Old Italic letter 𐌖 (V), from Greek letter Υ (Y), “‘Upsilon’”).

[ Letter

v (lower case, upper case V)

Lower case form of V. A letter of the classical Latin alphabet and most variations thereof, including the English alphabet.

[ Usage notes

The letter v is used in the International Phonetic Alphabet and in several romanization systems of non-Latin scripts to represent a voiced labiodental fricative (IPA: /v/).

[ See also

(select forms with diacritics) ṽ ṿ
(select symbols) ʌ ʋ ᵥ
(other scripts) Cyrillic в (v), “‘ve’”), Greek υ (y), “‘upsilon’”), Hebrew ו (w), “‘vav’”)
For more variations, see Appendix:Variations of "v".
See Appendix:Roman script, U, W, Y
V on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Lower case form of upper case roman numeral V, from abbreviation of IIIIΛ or IIIIV (representing 5), from tally stick markings resembling \\\\⋁ or ////⋌, from the practice of designating each fifth notch with a double cut, like the corresponding Western tally mark, .

[ Alternative forms

V, Ⅴ, ⅴ

[ Numeral

v (lower case Roman numeral, upper case V)

cardinal number five (5).

[ See also

[ Etymology 3

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

[ Symbol

(physics) velocity

[ English

[ Etymology

From Middle English lower case letter v (also written u), from Old English lower case u and respelling of Old English f between vowels and voiced consonants.

Old English lower case f from 7th century replacement by Latin lower case f of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚠ (f), “‘feoh’”), derived from Etruscan letter 𐌅 (v).
Old English lower case u from 7th century replacement by Latin lower case v of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc letter ᚢ (u), “‘ur’”), derived from Raetic letter u.

Before the 1700s, the pointed form v was written at the beginning of a word, while a rounded form u was used elsewhere, regardless of sound. So whereas valor and excuse appeared as in modern printing, have and upon were printed haue and vpon. Eventually, in the 1700s, to differentiate between the consonant and vowel sounds, the v form was used to represent the consonant, and u the vowel sound. v then preceded u in the alphabet, but the order has since reversed.