V

V, 22nd letter of the English alphabet. The form of the capital letter first appeared in Latin, in which it had been adapted from the Greek letter upsilon. This in turn was derived from an Egyptian hieroglyph. In English, the letters u and v were used interchangeably until at least the 17th century.

The v sound is produced by pressing the lower lip against the upper teeth and expelling the breath through the mouth while vibrating the vocal cords. The use of v as the initial letter of an English word usually indicates that the word has been derived from Latin or French rather than from Anglo-Saxon.