Cuneiform Sign Tu

It is one sign, not one fixed word.

𒌅 can write the syllable tu (a t sound followed by the vowel in “too”), stand for a whole word (a logogram), or join another sign in a sequence. Sign lists also record readings such as tud, tur₅, tum₁₂, and ṭu₂; the subscripts distinguish different readings associated with the sign.

Cuneiform grew from clay record-keeping in the late fourth millennium BCE; its earliest surviving records mainly tracked goods and work.

Why is cuneiform TU uppercase?

Capital TU names the sign; lowercase tu reports a reading.

A transliteration represents cuneiform signs with Latin letters. In it, capitals give a sign name or logogram label, while lowercase letters report a passage’s syllabic reading. In Old Hittite spelling, TU could mark an ending later commonly written DU, a period-specific convention.

TU-TA-TI is a syllable sequence in a basic scribal exercise; TU.MUŠEN is a Sumerian sequence used for Akkadian “dove” in Gilgamesh’s flood story.