The close back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is u, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.

Features of this vowel:

• Its vowel height is close, which means the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.

Occurs in:

• English (RP and GA) boot [buːt]
• French fou [fu] 'crazy'
• German Fuß [fuːs] 'foot'
• Portuguese urso [uɾsu] 'bear'
• Spanish cura [ˈkuɾa] 'preach'