---
title: "Do you know how 'W' alphabet was invented?"  
description: "A brief explanation about the origin of 'W' alphabet and its interesting facts"  
author: "Anjita D."  
published: 2023-10-26  
canonical: https://yourviews.mindstick.com/story/3011/do-you-know-how-w-alphabet-was-invented  
category: "education, history"  
tags: ["'W' alphabet", "facts", "general knowledge"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

---

# Do you know how 'W' alphabet was invented?

![Do you know how W alphabet was invented](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/stories/5ea6d2d5-b336-4280-a80c-070bedd60881/images/ef92db4c-376d-4ee6-976c-405dff132849.jpeg) ![Do you know how W alphabet was invented](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/stories/5ea6d2d5-b336-4280-a80c-070bedd60881/images/ef92db4c-376d-4ee6-976c-405dff132849.jpeg) The Middle Ages introduced the letter W to represent the sound /w/ in Germanic languages, as Latin alphabets lacked a separate letter for /w/. ![Do you know how W alphabet was invented](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/stories/5ea6d2d5-b336-4280-a80c-070bedd60881/images/c8de5f37-63ee-481f-84c8-cf3695718af6.jpeg) After the Norman conquest in 1066, Old English /w/ was represented by Wynn, but scribes simplified it to W after using the VV digraph. ![Do you know how W alphabet was invented](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/stories/5ea6d2d5-b336-4280-a80c-070bedd60881/images/eeca1374-5709-4e4a-a5c1-b20c8ba23b31.jpeg) In 11th century, invention of the first independent letter W, which gained widespread use in 14th century and the lowercase letter w in 16th century. ![Do you know how W alphabet was invented](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/stories/5ea6d2d5-b336-4280-a80c-070bedd60881/images/72aac023-2ef6-49df-a9aa-0d42f7608a85.jpeg) Letter W accurately represented Germanic language sounds, revolutionised writing and is now widely used globally in the English alphabet. ![Do you know how W alphabet was invented](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/stories/5ea6d2d5-b336-4280-a80c-070bedd60881/images/72aac023-2ef6-49df-a9aa-0d42f7608a85.jpeg) Furthermore, the letter W is often known as the "double U" because it is made up of two U-shaped strokes.

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Original Source: https://yourviews.mindstick.com/story/3011/do-you-know-how-w-alphabet-was-invented

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