უ — uni
«uni» is a vowel of Georgian, the “Georgian alphabet (mxedruli)” script, read as “u”. A clean 'oo' as in 'boot'. The Georgian alphabet has 33 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. It appears, for example, in the word “თუ შეიძლება” — please.
In short
| Character | უ |
| Name | uni |
| Sound | u |
| What it is | a vowel |
In our course the character comes 15th of 33: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are თ and პ, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How it sounds
A clean 'oo' as in 'boot'
Other written forms
The same character is written differently on a shop sign and in a book. Here are all the forms you may meet.
| Form | Character | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mtavruli | Უ | the display style: signs, headings, all-caps lettering |
The character in the “five vowels” group
Exactly five sounds, all pure: no reduction, and none of them softens a neighboring consonant.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound, see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 33 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Georgian character უ read?
As “u” — it is a vowel of the “Georgian alphabet (mxedruli)” script. A clean 'oo' as in 'boot'.
What is the letter უ called?
Uni. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Georgian script: it is called “uni” and reads as “u”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.