W is called "double U" because it began as two U's written side by side, long before it ever looked like two V's.
First, how do you say it?
DUB-ul-yoo
Three syllables, and the middle one is quiet. In everyday speech, many people shorten it to dub-ya. Either way, the name has a U in it, but the letter's shape does not.
🌀 The weird part
Look at the letter: W. It is two pointed V shapes joined together. If you had to name it from its shape, you would say double V.
Some languages do. French, for example, calls the letter double v, and that name fits the shape. English kept an older name, double U, that does not match what we see.
There was no W in Latin
The story begins in ancient Rome. The Latin alphabet had no W, and it did not have separate letters for U and V either. One letter, V, did several jobs. It could stand for a U-like sound, and it could also stand for a W-like sound.
That mattered when the Latin alphabet travelled to England.
Old English needed a W
In the 600s, English was being written in the Latin alphabet for the first time. English had a W sound, but Latin gave no letter for it. Scribes needed a new symbol.
They did the obvious thing: they wrote the U twice. UU. Two U's side by side.
They did not use V, because V was not part of the Old English alphabet. A double U was the closest fit.
The runic detour
In the 700s, English scribes swapped UU for a letter from the old runic alphabet. It was called wynn, and it looked a bit like a P with a slanted top (ƿ). English used it for several centuries.
The Norman comeback
Then in the 1000s, the Normans arrived from France. Their scribes preferred the old UU, and they joined the two letters into one shape: a W. By around 1300, the joined letter had replaced wynn.
So a W started life as two U's, and the joined letter kept the name.
Why did the name never change?
Once UU became a single letter, nobody renamed it. The Oxford English Dictionary says the letter "has never lost its original name of 'double U'".
As for the look, many writers link the pointed shape of the W to the printing press, but that explanation is uncertain. What is certain is that the name came first, and it came from U.
🧐 Did You Know?
In English, W is the only letter whose name has more than one syllable. Every other letter, from A to Z, is said in one beat.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Do not call it "double V" in English.
❌ W is called double V.
✅ W is called double U.
Keep W and V apart in words.
❌ I need a vindow.
✅ I need a window.
📌 Good to know
- If W and V feel like twins in your mouth, practise them together in Wendy's Violet Vest.
- W is also a famous silent letter. See two and answer, where it is spelled but not said.
💬 In a Conversation
Sam: Why is W called double U?
Mia: It started out as two U's.
Sam: But it looks like two V's!
Mia: The shape changed, but the name stayed.
Sam: So the letter has a name that does not match its photo.
Mia: Exactly. It is very shy in pictures.
⏳ The OddLingo Timeline
Latin: no W, and one letter V does several jobs
↓ 600s: English scribes write the W sound as UU
↓ 700s: the rune wynn (ƿ) takes over
↓ 1000s: Norman scribes bring back UU, joined as W
↓ By about 1300: W replaces wynn, and keeps the name double U
🥡 The OddLingo Takeaway
W is called double U because English first wrote that sound as two U's. The shape later turned into two V's, but the name stayed behind.
A letter's name can be older than its look.