It’s a long story. In short: In Latin script u and v were the same letter “u” but had two pronunciations depending on whether it was being used as a vowel or consonant. But when adapting the alphabet to Germanic languages (including Old English) the same two sounds were from two different letters, so they put two "u"s together to make double u: vv.
Usually same as our compound letter “ij”, similar but not quite how you’d prononuce the word “eye”.
Less commonly it’s pronounced as “i-grec” (greek i) or “ypsilon”.
In Dutch www is faster. Never understood why one would give a letter a name that consists of 2 parts.
I don’t get why w is called double u when it’s clearly a double v
It’s a long story. In short: In Latin script u and v were the same letter “u” but had two pronunciations depending on whether it was being used as a vowel or consonant. But when adapting the alphabet to Germanic languages (including Old English) the same two sounds were from two different letters, so they put two "u"s together to make double u: vv.
The full story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg2j7mZ9-2Y
In some languages (Spanish, for example) it’s double v.
U and V used to be the same letter
how do you pronounce Y ?
In Flanders (at least where I’m at) we usually say I grec, but when doing math or reciting the alphabet, we say IJ.
Sound like igrek.
it’s two words (“i graeca”)
We say it just like I wrote it, as one word. Although some people use Griekse IJ, which is also two words.
and how would you say xyz ?
XIJZ.
Iks Üpsilon Zett
Usually same as our compound letter “ij”, similar but not quite how you’d prononuce the word “eye”. Less commonly it’s pronounced as “i-grec” (greek i) or “ypsilon”.
i-grec (but English sound for “e” just like in Dutch) is the French way as well.
In Swedish I pronounce y as y. It has its own sound and doesn’t sound like another letter, so it can’t be written as a combination of other letters.
Üpsilon