Latin Small Letter U with Double Acute

The Latin Small Letter U with Double Acute at U+0171 is a Latin vowel letter used to write a long front rounded “u” sound in Hungarian. It belongs to the Latin Extended-A block, which contains accented letters needed by many European orthographies beyond basic ASCII. Its main real-world use is in Hungarian, where it is a separate letter of the alphabet, not just a styled form of u. It represents the long counterpart of ü, heard in words such as tű “needle,” fű “grass,” and betű “letter.” Alphabetization and spelling treat u, ú, ü, and ű as distinct, so replacing ű with plain u or ü can change pronunciation and may produce a different word. The same letter appears in Hungarian names, addresses, publishing, education, dictionaries, and language-learning materials, especially where accurate spelling matters. In informal typing, people sometimes substitute u, ue, or ü when a keyboard lacks the character, but standard Hungarian text uses ű. It is visually related to letters with ordinary acute accents, yet the double acute specifically marks Hungarian vowel length on a rounded front vowel.