Y
/waɪ/noun
The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, representing vowel or consonant sounds depending on its position.
Did you know?Greek upsilon originally represented an “u” sound, but its pronunciation shifted toward “ü” before Latin borrowed Y to preserve Greek spellings.
Etymological Timeline
Late 2nd millennium BCE
Phoenician
𐤅 waw
“A letter likely associated with a hook or nail; it is the proposed ancestor of several later alphabetic forms.”
8th–5th Century BCE
Greek
Υ υ upsilon
“The Greek letter upsilon, originally representing a sound like /u/.”
1st Century BCE
Latin
Y y
“A letter adopted from Greek, chiefly to write Greek loanwords; it was called Greek i, or Greek y.”
10th–12th Century
Old French
Y y
“The inherited Latin letter used in French writing and alphabetic recitation.”
14th Century
Middle English
y
“The letter used in English, sometimes also serving as a vowel or a consonant.”
Modern English
English
Y
“The twenty-fifth alphabetic letter, pronounced /waɪ/ as a letter name and commonly used for both vowel and consonant sounds.”