Carian Letter U

𐊲 is the Carian letter u, part of an alphabet used to write the ancient Carian language. Most surviving texts come from Egypt, where mercenaries left tomb inscriptions and graffiti.

Text symbol

What 𐊲 means

It is a Carian vowel sign. Scholars use Latin u to represent it; that spelling does not make 𐊲 a Latin letter.

The Carian alphabet wrote an ancient Indo-European language of southwestern Anatolia. The script dates from the first millennium BCE. Most surviving texts are Egyptian tomb inscriptions and graffiti left by Carian mercenaries from the seventh to fifth centuries BCE.

Some Carian signs resemble Greek letters but have different values, leaving the script’s precise link to Greek unsettled. A bilingual Carian–Greek inscription found at Kaunos in 1996 helped confirm readings. Egyptian texts mostly run right-to-left; those from Caria, left-to-right. Word dividers are sporadic.

Part of the collection

𔐀

Anatolian Scripts (Luwian Hieroglyphs, Lycian, Lydian, Carian)

Who writes 𐊲

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Don't confuse it with

Latin Capital Letter Y

Latin capital Y, the usual visual look-alike of Carian U. The mix-up is visual and matters only in Carian text.

Greek Capital Letter Upsilon

Greek capital Upsilon, identical to Latin Y in most fonts. A common Greek-for-Latin swap in spoofed text.

Cyrillic Capital Letter U

Cyrillic capital U, which looks like Latin Y in many fonts and is a common Cyrillic spoof character.

Ｙ

Fullwidth Latin Capital Letter Y

Fullwidth Latin capital Y, a wide copy that appears with East Asian input methods.

Questions people ask

Why does 𐊲 show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.