Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

N

(ĕn)

the fourteenth letter of English alphabet, is a vocal consonent, and, in allusion to its mode of formation, is called the dentinasal or linguanasal consonent. Its commoner sound is that heard in ran, done; but when immediately followed in the same word by the sound of g hard or k (as in single, sink, conquer), it usually represents the same sound as the digraph ng in sing, bring, etc. This is a simple but related sound, and is called the gutturo-nasal consonent. See

Guide to Pronunciation

, §§ 243-246.

The letter N came into English through the Latin and Greek from the Phoenician, which probably derived it from the Egyptian as the ultimate origin. It is etymologically most closely related to M. See

N

Noun.

(Print.)

A measure of space equal to half an M (or em); an en.

Webster 1828 Edition

N

is the fourteenth letter of the English Alphabet, and an articulation formed by placing the end of the tongue against the root of the upper teeth. It is an imperfect mute or semi-vowel, and a nasal letter; the articulation being accompanied with a sound through the nose. It has one sound only, and after m is silent or nearly so, as in hymn and condemn. N, among the ancients, was a numeral letter signifying 900, and with a stroke over it, 9000. Among the lawyers, N. L. stood for non liquet, the case is not clear. In commerce, No. Is an abbreviation of the French nombre, and stands for number. N.S. stands for New Style.

Definition 2024

N

N	U+004E, N LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N

← M
[U+004D]

Basic Latin

O →
[U+004F]

See also: Appendix:Variations of "n"

Translingual

Letter

N upper case (lower case n)

The fourteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.

Symbol

(chemistry) Symbol for nitrogen.
(metrology) Symbol for newton, the SI unit of force.
(biochemistry) IUPAC 1-letter abbreviation for aspargine
(physics) electron number
(music) Neapolitan chord (usually in first inversion, therefore followed by a superscript six)

English

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n, plural Ns or N's)

The fourteenth letter of the English alphabet, called en and written in the Latin script.

Number

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The ordinal number fourteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called en and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɛn/
Rhymes: -ɛn

Abbreviation

(military) Navy
north (see also n)
(chess) knight

Translations

Navy

north

French: N (fr) m
German: N (de) m
Greek: Β (el) ‎(V)

Hungarian: É (hu)

American Sign Language

Letter

‎(Stokoe N)

The letter N

Azeri

Letter

N upper case (lower case n)

The twentieth letter of the Azeri alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Chinese

Etymology

Likely from the mathematical usage of n to denote an arbitrary number.

Pronunciation

Cantonese (Jyutping): en¹

Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
  - Jyutping: en¹
  - Yale: ēn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: en¹
  - IPA ^(key): /ɛːn⁵⁵/

Adjective

countless, several

點解我打咗N次都冇人接電話嘅？ [Cantonese, trad.]

点解我打咗N次都冇人接电话嘅？ [Cantonese, simp.]

Dim² gaai² ngo⁵ daa² zo²N ci³ dou¹ mou⁵ jan⁴ zip³ din⁶ waa^6-2 ge²? [Jyutping]

How come I called several times but no one picked up the phone?

追了N部美剧，英语还超烂…

Dutch

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛn/

Letter

N ‎(capital, lowercase n)

The fourteenth letter of the Dutch alphabet.

Abbreviation

Abbreviation of noord; north

Esperanto

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The eighteenth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called no or en and written in the Latin script.

Abbreviation

Abbreviation of nordo ‎(“north”).
(text messaging) Abbreviation of ni ‎(“we”).

Finnish

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The fourteenth letter of the Finnish alphabet, called än or en and written in the Latin script.

Abbreviation

non sine laude approbatur

French

Pronunciation

(letter): IPA^(key): /ɛn/
Rhymes: -ɛn

Abbreviation

Abbreviation of nord.

Letter

The fourteenth letter of the French alphabet.

Galician

Abbreviation

norte (north)

Antonyms

(north): S

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʔɛn/

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The fourteenth letter of the German alphabet.

Abbreviation

Abbreviation of Nord; north

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

N ‎(lower case n)

The fourteenth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Italian

Pronunciation

(name of letter) IPA^(key): /ˈɛnne/
(phoneme) IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

N m, f ‎(invariable, lower case n)

The twelfth letter of the Italian alphabet, called enne and written in the Latin script.

Latvian

Etymology

Proposed in 1908 as part of the new Latvian spelling by the scientific commission headed by K. Mīlenbahs, which was accepted and began to be taught in schools in 1909. Prior to that, Latvian had been written in German Fraktur, and sporadically in Cyrillic.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [n]

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The twenty-first letter of the Latvian alphabet, called en and written in the Latin script.

Malay

Pronunciation

(Name of letter) IPA^(key): [ɛn]
(Phoneme) IPA^(key): [n]

Letter

The fourteenth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Portuguese

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The fourteenth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Noun

N m (uncountable)

Abbreviation of norte.

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ne/, /en/

Letter

N (capital, lowercase n)

The seventeenth letter of the Romanian alphabet representing the phoneme /n/. Preceded by M and followed by O.

Saanich

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /n/, /nʼ/

Letter

The twenty-first letter of the Saanich alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

N ‎(lower case N)

The twenty-second letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Slovene

Letter

N ‎(capital, lowercase n)

The 15th letter of the Slovene alphabet. Preceded by M and followed by O.

Somali

Pronunciation

(phoneme): IPA^(key): /n/
(letter name): IPA^(key): /nʉn/

Letter

N upper case (lower case n)

The nineteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, called nun and written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

The nineteenth letter of the Somali alphabet, which follows Arabic abjad order. It is preceded by M and followed by W.

Spanish

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The 14th letter of the Spanish alphabet.

Abbreviation

Abbreviation of norte; north

Turkish

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The seventeenth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ne and written in the Latin script.

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɛ˧˧ nəːɰ˨˩/, /ʔɛn˧˧ nəːɰ˨˩/, /nəːɰ˨˩ tʰɜʔp̚˧ˀ˦/, /nəːɰ˨˩]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɛ˧˧ nəːɰ˧˧/, /ʔɛŋ˧˧ nəːɰ˧˧/, /nəːɰ˧˧ tʰɜʔp̚˦˥/, /nəːɰ˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ʔɛ˧˥ nəːɰ˨˩/, /ʔɛŋ˧˥ nəːɰ˨˩/, /nəːɰ˨˩ tʰɜʔp̚˦ˀ˥/, /nəːɰ˨˩]
Phonetic: e nờ, en nờ, nờ thấp, nờ

Letter

N ‎(upper case, lower case n)

The sixteenth letter of the Vietnamese alphabet, called e-nờ, en-nờ, nờ thấp or nờ and written in the Latin script.

n

n	U+006E, n LATIN SMALL LETTER N

← m
[U+006D]

Basic Latin

o →
[U+006F]

ⁿ	U+207F, ⁿ SUPERSCRIPT LATIN SMALL LETTER N

← ⁾
[U+207E]

Superscripts and Subscripts

₀ →
[U+2080]

See also: ո, ռ, ⁿ, and Appendix:Variations of "n"

Translingual

Etymology

From the old Latin N, from the Greek Ν (nu), from an archaic reversed Greek N, from the Phoenician symbol; possibly from an earlier Egyptian hieroglyph of a serpent.

Letter

n lower case (upper case N)

The fourteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.
in Romanization:
1. of the Hebrew נ \ ן ‎(“nun”, “nūn”) in the Common Israeli, Hebrew Academy (1953 and 2006), and ISO 259 transliteration schemes
2. of the Hebrew נּ ‎(“nun”, “nūn ḥāzāq”) in the Common Israeli transliteration scheme

Synonyms

(Romanization of נּ, “nun”, “nūn ḥāzāq”): nn (in the Hebrew Academy (1953 and 2006) and ISO 259 transliteration schemes)

Related terms

Ŋ (eng)
Ν (nu)
Н (en)

External links

n on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Pronunciation

Symbol

(IPA) alveolar nasal.
(statistics) Sample size.
(physics) neutron
(mathematics) An arbitrary natural number.

External links

Alveolar nasal on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɛn/

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N, plural n's)

The fourteenth letter of the English alphabet, called en and written in the Latin script.

Number

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The ordinal number fourteenth, derived from this letter of the English alphabet, called en and written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Noun

north
(grammar) noun
(grammar) neuter gender
(organic chemistry) normal
Neutral
No
Shortening of and, used in set phrases like rock-n-roll.

Translations

north

Russian: С m ‎(S)

noun

Russian: сущ. n ‎(sušč.)

neuter

Russian: ср. m ‎(sr.), ср. род m ‎(sr. rod)

neutral

Aromanian

Preposition

Alternative form of ãn

Azeri

Letter

n lower case (upper case N)

The twentieth letter of the Azeri alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Dutch

Pronunciation

Rhymes: -ɛn
(letter name): IPA^(key): /ɛn/

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The fourteenth letter of the Dutch alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Egyptian

Adjective

Usage notes

This genitival adjective is used to express the indirect genitive. It indicates that the noun preceding it (with which it agrees in gender and number), is possessed by the noun which follows it.

Inflection

Masculine

Feminine

Singular

Plural

Preposition

to, for (dative)
towards
(of time) for, until
because of

Usage notes

Before a noun it can be written

This should not be confused with the negative particle, which is written identically

Inflection

Adverbial forms

n(j)

Pronoun

Dependent pronoun: first person plural

we, us (see usage notes)

Usage notes

This form of pronoun is an enclitic, which must directly follow the word it modifies. Its meaning depends on its context.

When it follows a verb, it indicates the object of the verb
In the second and third person when it follows an adjective, it forms the subject of an adjectival sentance
When it follows a relative adjective, such as ntj, ntt, and jsṯ, it indicates the subject of the relative clause (Usually only in the first person singular and third person neuter)
When it follows an imperative, it indicates the object of the verb.
When it follows a particle like mj.k, it indicates the subject of the clause.
When attached to a preposition, it indicates the object of the preposition

This pronoun has a variant hieroglyphic writing:

Inflection

Dependent pronouns inflect for gender and number. The "neuter" third person form is used for inanimate objects. See individual pages for variant writings.

	Singular	Plural
1st person	wj	n
2nd masculine	ṯw / tw	ṯn / tn
2nd feminine	ṯn / tn	ṯn / tn
3rd masculine	sw	sn
3rd feminine	sj	sn
3rd neuter	st

References

Allen, Middle Egyptian
Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The eighteenth letter of the Esperanto alphabet, called no and written in the Latin script.

Faroese

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

n ‎(upper case N)

The sixteenth letter of the Faroese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

French

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The fourteenth letter of the French alphabet, written in the Latin script.
- 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter I:
  Avec ces propos et d’autres semblables, le pauvre gentilhomme perdait le jugement. Il passait les nuits et se donnait la torture pour les comprendre, pour les approfondir, pour leur tirer le sens des entrailles, ce qu’Aristote lui-même n’aurait pu faire, s’il fût ressuscité tout exprès pour cela.
  
  With these passages and other similar ones, the poor gentleman lost his judgement. He spent his nights and tortured himself to understand them, to consider them more deeply, to take from them their deepest meaning, which Aristotle himself would not have been able to do, had he been resurrected for that very purpose.

German

Article

Nonstandard form of 'n.
- 1984, Wolfdietrich Schnurre, Ein Unglücksfall: Roman, page 172:
  „Hat uns vorhin so n Mensch von der Dingsbums gebracht.“ „Von der Kultusgemeinde.“ Avrom hebt zwinkernd die Augen vom Buch; er lächelt. Muß ne anrührende Stelle gewesen sein, was er da grade liest. „Was heißt ‚so n Mensch‘.“
- 1999, Regula Schmidlin, Wie Deutschschweizer Kinder schreiben und erzählen lernen:
  […] also die Geschichte hab ich genannt (äh) die Froschsuche weil da war so n Junge und mit em Hund und die haben dauernd ihren Frosch immer angeguckt im Wasser und dann einmal in der Nacht is er weggehüpft […]
- 2012, Gustav Falke, Die Kinder Aus Ohlsens Gang, page 92:
  »Wenn ick de jungen Lüd nich harr und de Kinner – so n Mann, Herr Lehrer, so n Mann! aber ick hev en nu. He schall mi mol Muck seggn. Rut smiet ick em.« »Das lassen Sie nur lieber nach, Frau Krahnstöver. […] «
- 2014, Manuel Mayer, Schwule Akten: Fußballstar und Tennisprofi geoutet (Himmelstürmer Verlag), page 58:
  Und da Sex Sponsoren anzieht, würde so n Kerl ein so großes Medienecho hervorrufen, sodass wir noch Jahrhunderte davon hören würden ...

Haruai

Pronoun

References

Jef Verschueren, Pragmatics at Issue: Selected Papers (1991, ISBN 9027250146)
Bernard Comrie, ‎Maria Polinsky, Causatives and Transitivity (1993, ISBN 9027230269), page 317: Haruai has a serial verb construction, in which all verbs but the last take no inflections whatsoever (the only instance in Haruai where a verb can appear inflectionless), as in (3): n dw röbö p-n-a I go water get-FUT(-1SG)-DEC

Ido

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

n ‎(upper case N)

The fourteenth letter of the Ido alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Italian

Noun

n m, f ‎(invariable)

See under N

Japanese

Romanization

rōmaji reading of ん
rōmaji reading of ン

Ladin

Article

a (+ masculine noun)

Latvian

Etymology

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [n]

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The twenty-first letter of the Latvian alphabet, called en and written in the Latin script.

Livonian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

n ‎(upper case N)

The twentieth letter of the Livonian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Malay

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The fourteenth letter of the Malay alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Mandarin

Romanization

n (Zhuyin ㄋ˙)

Pinyin transcription of 唵
Pinyin transcription of 𧗈

Nonstandard spelling of ń.
Nonstandard spelling of ň.
Nonstandard spelling of ǹ.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Norwegian

Pronunciation

(letter name): IPA^(key): /enː/, /ɛnː/
(phoneme): IPA^(key): /n/, /ɳ/*, /ŋ/*

Letter

The fourteenth letter of the Norwegian alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Usage notes

/ɳ/ Retroflex, merge of rn.
/ŋ/ Velar nasal, merge of ng, and when n comes before k, like in the English think.

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The fourteenth letter of the Portuguese alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Adverb

(Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of não ‎(“not”).

Noun

n m (plural n)

(Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of não ‎(“no”).

Interjection

(Internet slang, text messaging) Abbreviation of não ‎(“no”).

Romanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ne/, /en/

Letter

n ‎(lowercase, capital N)

The seventeenth letter of the Romanian alphabet, written in the Latin script. Representing the phoneme /n/. Preceded by m and followed by o.

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

n ‎(Cyrillic spelling н)

The 19th letter of the Serbo-Croatian Latin alphabet, preceded by m and followed by nj.

Skolt Sami

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

n ‎(upper case N)

The twenty-second letter of the Skolt Sami alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Spanish

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /n/, /ŋ/, /ɱ/, /n̪/, /n̟/, /n̪/, /nʲ/, /ɴ/
(letter) IPA^(key): /'ene/

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The fourteenth letter of the Spanish alphabet, written in the Latin script.

Turkish

Letter

n ‎(lower case, upper case N)

The seventeenth letter of the Turkish alphabet, called ne and written in the Latin script.

Turkmen

Pronunciation

(phoneme) IPA^(key): /n/

Letter

n ‎(upper case N)

The sixteenth letter of the Turkmen alphabet, called en and written in the Latin script.