Abecedary to color: U

Click here for a high-res, 

full-page printable to color in.

U looks so simple, just half a circle and two uprights, but designers can't seem to resist filling it with all kinds of ornament and pattern.  

U is, in fact, a relatively recent addition to the alphabet, having been represented until well into the 16th century by the letter V.  As in carved inscriptions in Rome spelled Julius Caesar as IVLIVS CAESAR. You still won't find it in Polish, which seems to otherwise have an unlimited appetite for using consonants.   



Sometimes, when you're trying to understand letters from 12 centuries ago, you just have to wing it.  The fourth U of the page above is topped by a bird and some animal (a cat with its back fur up, maybe), but unless the man inside this letter is practicing yoga I cannot figure out what he is doing.  You are welcome to check out the original here, admire its blue and green color choices, make up your own story about this very flexible man, and color him in.