W, the German Kurrent letter w
W is the 23rd letter of the German alphabet, representing a voiced labiodental fricative /v/, corresponding to the consonant sound of English 'v' and found throughout native Germanic vocabulary. In German Kurrent handwriting, it has a distinct historical ductus taught across German-speaking Europe until 1941.
In words
Schwester · sister
zwei · two
Weihnachten · Christmas
History
The letter W occupies the 23rd position in the German alphabet. Phonetically, it represents a voiced labiodental fricative /v/, corresponding to the consonant sound of English 'v' and found throughout native Germanic vocabulary.
Lowercase w in Kurrent resembles a combination of u and v: it features two pointed troughs followed by an inward-curling exit loop at the top right. Capital W is a magnificent letter composed of two interlaced V-forms with decorative loops.
The letter w appears extensively in family documents: 'Witwe' (widow), 'Wohnort' (residence), 'Woche' (week), and 'Wasser' (water). Its multiple basins make it a prominent presence in cursive texts.
W began in the Middle Ages as a ligature, a doubled V or U.[1] The German w sound was at first a non-syllabic u, like the w of English, and moved to a v sound during the Middle Ages; English kept the older sound.[2] W is the seventeenth most frequent letter in German text, at about 1.9% of all letters.[3]
Sources
- [1] W — Wikipedia (German) — W arose as a ligature of V or U (accessed 2026-10-14)
- [2] W — Wikipedia (German) — the German w sound shifted from [u] to [v] in the Middle Ages (accessed 2026-10-14)
- [3] W — Wikipedia (German) — 17th most frequent, 1.89% (accessed 2026-10-14)