The 22nd letter of the English alphabet is V.
English uses the 26-letter Latin alphabet, and V occupies position 22 when the letters are counted from A. Its English name is “vee,” while its lowercase form is v. The letter descends from ancient Mediterranean writing systems and was used in Latin, where it represented sounds related to both modern English V and U.
A major source of confusion is that V and U were not always treated as separate letters. In classical Latin, one character served both functions; medieval scribes gradually developed distinct forms, and English later adopted U as a separate alphabetic letter. That historical overlap explains why V appears in old inscriptions where modern readers might expect U.
In modern English, V commonly represents the voiced labiodental fricative, as in “voice” and “seven.” It is also used in abbreviations, Roman numerals, scientific symbols, and academic grading systems. The neighboring letter is U, in position 21, while W follows V as position 23.