double-u

Meanings

1. The name of the Latin script letter W/w.
2. Alternative name of the Latin-script digraph ⟨UU⟩.
3. The WC; the toilet.

1. Alternative letter-case form of double-u.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English doble W, in reference to the letter's origins as a ligature of two Us or Vs (V originally being a typographical variant of U). The failure of the sequence /bljuː/ to simplify in this word's bisyllabic pronunciation (as in blue) is doubtlessly due to the letter U's name. For colloquial pronunciations without /l/, compare Straya.