Spanish words that start with U: Everyday words to specialized vocab

While Spanish words that start with U may not be so common, they are a gateway to a diverse world of vocabulary. From nouns and verbs to adjectives and adverbs, words that start with U in Spanish cover everything from everyday objects to specialized terms.

Even beginners are familiar with a few essential Spanish U words like uno or usted. On the other end of the spectrum though, we also have words like ufología, which is the study of UFOs. To see a bunch of useful words as well as other interesting ones like this, read on for a fun selection of words that start with U in Spanish!

U in Spanish: Pronunciation

Before we get into our vocab lists of Spanish U words, let’s just cover the basics on pronunciation. Normally, the Spanish U sound is pretty consistent no matter where it falls in the word, pronounced like the “oo” in the English words “food” or “moon.” This is also how we call the letter U in the Spanish alphabet: U. When a Spanish word begins with the letter U, it will always follow this pronunciation.

Elsewhere in a word, however, the Spanish U can sometimes be pronounced differently. This all depends on whether the U is combined in a syllable with other letters. Think of any word that contains the syllable ‑que‑, for example, like “queso,” where the U is essentially silent in deference to the E. The same happens with ‑qui‑, as in “máquina,” where the I is pronounced distinctly but not the U. The same rule applies in words with ‑gue‑ or ‑gui‑, like in the words “guerilla” or “guitarra.” We go into a lot more detail on these rules in our post on silent letters in Spanish.

There’s an exception to that last rule we mentioned, where we pronounce both of the vowel sounds distinctly. In this case we add a diacritic over the U called la diéresis, which English speakers often refer to as an umlaut. Thus, in Spanish words that contain ‑güe‑ or ‑güi‑, the Ü is enunciated distinctly. Examples are “vergüenza,” which means “shame,” or “pingüino,” which is “penguin.” For a full lesson on vowel combinations like this, check out our detailed post on how to divide Spanish words into syllables.

Finally, we need to mention the acute accent that can be placed on all the vowels in Spanish, known as una tilde or simply un acento. Appearing as Ú, this accent mark can appear anywhere in the word and is an integral part of a word’s proper spelling. It doesn’t affect the pronunciation of the letter U, but rather indicates where the vocal stress should fall in a word. We explain this more in the aforementioned post on Spanish syllables, as well as in our broader post on accent marks in Spanish.

For the rest of this post, we’ll focus on Spanish words that start with U. You won’t need to worry about the pronunciation rules we explained above, since the Ü and the silent U only appear in the middle of words. Still, you’ll see plenty Spanish U words that begin with the accented Ú!

Now let’s get into our vocab lists of Spanish words that start with U!

Fundamental vocab

We’ll start with a few Spanish words starting with U that are so important that they deserve their own sections. If you’re not intimately familiar with all of these already, click through to our full lessons in their respective grammatical categories.

Subject pronouns: Usted, Ustedes

These are the two formal you forms in Spanish, with usted being the formal you in singular and ustedes being the formal you in plural. These are among the fundamental subject pronouns in Spanish.

These formal you forms are in contrast with tú, which is the informal singular you, or vosotros and vosotras, which are its informal plural equivalents. In Latin American Spanish, however, ustedes is the only plural you form that’s used, regardless of formality. See our other posts to know when to use Tú vs Usted, or to see every form of You in Spanish.

Even though they’re used in the second person to address you, usted and ustedes are conjugated in the third person. Click through to learn more about subject pronouns and conjugation.

• ¿Ustedes van al parque? – You guys are going to the park?

Usted and ustedes are also used as prepositional pronouns in Spanish, which means that they can appear directly after most Spanish prepositions like de, sin, or con.

•  ¿Nuestros hijos pueden ir con ustedes? – Can our kids go with you?

Articles: Un, Una, Unos, Unas

Un and una are the singular indefinite articles in Spanish, both translating simply into English as a or an. These are surely among the most common words in the Spanish language, since they can appear before any noun. Un is used before masculine nouns and una before feminine nouns. Their plural versions are unos and unas, which generally translate into English as some.

Number one: Uno

Even English speakers who know no Spanish at all probably know what uno means. It’s the number one! El numero uno is the only Spanish number that starts with U, but it’s definitely an important one!

Now that we’ve seen the fundamental Spanish words that start with U, we’re ready to dive into our vocab lists by grammatical category. Words that start with U in Spanish aren’t as plentiful as those beginning with other letters, so we’ve chosen quite a variety of U words to present here. While many are very common, we’ve also included a lot of very specialized vocab to show the surprising range in meanings that our Spanish U words can carry!

Let’s explore these Spanish words that start with U, broken down into lists of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs.

Nouns that start with U

Nouns that start with U in Spanish include common items like las uñas or las uvas, they describe places like la ubicación or la urbanización, and they even get fantastical with words like la unicornio or la ufología.

Take a look at this diverse list of Spanish U nouns that we’ve decided to present to you.

Spanish U nouns	English translation
La ubicación	Location
La ubre	Udder
La ufología	Ufology, The study of UFOs
El ufólogo	Ufologist, A UFO specialist
El ukelele	Ukulele
La úlcera	Ulcer
La ultraderecha	The extreme right (politics)
La ultraizquierda	The extreme left (politics)
El ultramar	Overseas
El ultrasonido	Ultrasound
El umbral	Doorstep, Threshold
La unidad	Unit
La unción	Anointment, Anointing
El ungüento	Ointment
La unificación	Unification
El uniforme	Uniform
La unión	Union
El unicornio	Unicorn
El universo	Universe
La universidad	University
La uña	Fingernail, Toenail
El uranio	Uranium
La urbanización	Urbanization, Neighborhood
La urbe	City, Metropolis
La urgencia	Urgency
La urna	Urn
La urraca	Magpie
El uso	Use
La usurpación	Impersonation, Identity theft
El utensilio	Tool, Utensil
La utilería	Prop
El ultimátum	Ultimatum
La utopía	Utopia
La uva	Grape

• La profesora que usa uniforme en mi universidad es de ultraderecha.- The teacher who wears a uniform at my university is far right.

• La urraca tiene prohibido pasar del umbral de la puerta de mi cuarto. – The magpie is forbidden to pass the doorstep of my room.

Adjectives that start with U

Many of the adjectives that start with the letter U in Spanish are farily common, like útil or único, while others, like urológica or usurero, are quite specialized.

Let’s uncover a nice variety of Spanish adjectives that start with U.

Spanish U adjectives	English translation
Ubicuo	Ubiquitous, Omnipresent
Ufano	Arrogant, Conceited
Ufologógico	Ufological, Pertaining to UFOs
Ulceroso	Ulcerous
Umbrío	Gloomy, Shady
Unánime *	Unanimous
Unidireccional *	Unidirectional, One-way
Unificador	Unifying
Unilateral *	Unilateral, One-sided
Único	Unique
Unipersonal *	Solo, One-person
Unitario	Single, By the unit
Universitario	Pertaining to the university
Urinario	Urinary
Untuoso	Oily, Greasy
Urológica	Urological
Urgente *	Urgent
Útil *	Useful
Usado	Used
Usual *	Usual
Usurero	Usurious
Utilizable *	Usable
Último	Last, Final

* These adjectives are invariable. The others follow normal Spanish adjective rules for their endings, depending on the gender and number of the nouns they modify.

• La decisión de la junta universitaria fue unánime, la ubicación de los laboratorios debe cambiar. – The decision of the university board was unanimous, the location of the laboratories must change.

• Mi mamá fue a la sala de emergencias por una urgencia urológica. – My mom went to the emergency room for a urological emergency.

Adverbs that start with U

There aren’t many adverbs that start with U, but nearly all of them are common enough for everyday conversations. Adverbs can add valuable context and detail to sentences, modifying verbs to indicate how, when, or to what extent an action occurs.

Let’s explore the adverbs that start with U in Spanish!

Spanish U adverbs	English translation
Unánimemente	Unanimously
Unidamente	Unitedly
Uniformemente	Uniformly
Últimamente	Lately
Ulteriormente	Subsequently
Usualmente	Usually
Urgentemente	Urgently
Universalmente	Universally

• Según las noticias, el universo se ha estado expandiendo más rápido últimamente. – According to news reports, the universe has been expanding faster lately.

• Usualmente, mi abuelo usa ungüento en sus rodillas antes de salir a caminar por la urbanización. – My grandfather usually uses ointment on his knees before going for a walk in the neighborhood.

Verbs that start with U

There may be fewer verbs that start with U in Spanish than with other letters, but they bring essential actions and expressions to the language. Many of these Spanish U verbs cover common practical actions, while others are used to describe very specialized practices.

Now let’s explore an interesting list of Spanish verbs that start with U.

Spanish U verbs	English translation
Ubicar	To locate, To place
Urdir	To warp
Ufanarse	To boast
Ulcerar	To ulcerate, To cause or develop an ulcer
Ulular	To howl
Ultrajar	To offend, To insult
Ultimar	To finalize, To complete
Ungir	To grease, To oil
Unir	To join, To unite
Unificar	To unify
Uniformar	To standardize, To put in uniform
Universalizar	To universalize, To make universal
Untar	To spread
Usar	To use
Urbanizar	To urbanize, To develop
Usufructuar	To usufruct, To make use of a property independently of its ownership
Usurpar	To usurp, To take over by force or deceit
Utilizar	To utilize, To use

• El urólogo estaba utilizando la máquina de ultrasonido en su consultorio últimamente. – The urologist was using the ultrasound machine in his office lately.

• El presidente se ufanó de unificar al país. – The president boasted of unifying the country.

Conclusion: Spanish words that start with U

Esa fue la última lista! Today’s post was all about Spanish words that start with U, with four main vocab lists of Spanish U words. In addition to the nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and verbs, we began with a section on several words that are fundamental to the language, including usted, ustedes, un, una, and uno.

We started the post with an introduction on how to pronounce the letter U in Spanish. We saw that it’s always pronounced like “oo” at the beginning of words, but that there are some exceptions in the middle of words when it appears in combinations with ‑que‑, ‑qui‑, ‑gue‑, and ‑gui‑. We even saw how to manage exceptions to those last two using la diéresis, appearing as ‑güe‑ and ‑güi‑.

As always, we provided plenty of links to our other lessons. By all means, dig deeper into any of the grammatical concepts we mentioned here, like the Spanish syllabication rules or the different Spanish words for You!

While the letter U in Spanish may not appear as frequently as many other letters, it certainly plays a vital role in enriching our vocabulary and providing unique nuances to whatever we’re describing. As you continue your journey in learning Spanish, keep an eye out for many of the captivating terms starting with U that we’ve learned today!