Cuneiform Sign U

It can mean “u”—usually “and” or “but”—or the number ten.

Cuneiform signs can stand for words, syllables, or numbers, so the language and sentence around one matter. Here, Sumerian u is a cuneiform conjunction that links clauses; the same sign can also stand for ten.

Cuneiform took shape in record-keeping at Uruk, an ancient Mesopotamian city, around 3500–3200 BCE. By the 14th century BCE, this sign appears in the Amarna letters, a collection of ancient correspondence, both for ten and as u between clauses. Cuneiform also recorded literary Akkadian, another ancient Mesopotamian language, including the Epic of Gilgamesh.

How can I tell which reading it has?

Follow the job: count, connect, or spell a syllable.

In a counted quantity, 𒌋 marks ten in a base-60 system, where values are grouped by sixties. Between clauses, the Sumerian conjunction u links ideas as “and,” “but,” or a similar connector. As a syllabic spelling, it gives the vowel sound in English “too.”

Unicode cuneiform guidance explains that fonts for different periods can draw 𒌋 differently: a font for Ur III, an earlier Mesopotamian period, and one for Neo-Assyrian writing may show distinct shapes. They depict the same abstract sign, not different Unicode characters.