double-u
Pluraldouble-ues, double-u's
- 1The spoken name of the Latin-script letter W or w.
Children often struggle to pronounce double-u when reciting the alphabet.
The announcer spelled the brand aloud, lingering on the double-u.
Note
A name that still describes the letter's shape. Middle English called it doble W because it began as two Us or Vs joined into one, and V was then only a typographical variant of U. Speakers keep the middle as two syllables and never squeeze it toward the sound of blue, because they still hear the name of U inside it. The plural is written double-ues or double-u's.
- 2A polite or indirect name for the toilet or restroom.
He slipped off to the double-u before the show began.
Ask the host if you may use the double-u.
Similarloo, lavatory, restroom, toilet, WC
Note
A euphemism that works by spelling aloud: saying only the first letter of WC keeps the room itself unnamed. It is treated as a place, so it takes the and pairs with in or to, as when GB Edwards, in The Book of Ebenezer Le Page (1974), has a snooping visitor who "even looked in the double-u." Its tone is coy and discreet, never clinical.
Practice
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Origin
Inherited from Middle English "doble W", the name refers to the letter's origin as a ligature of two Us or Vs (V originally being a typographical variant of U).