Nun (letter)

Fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets

For the member of a religious community of women, see Nun.

← Mem

Nun

Samekh →

Phoenician|

Hebrew|

Aramaic|

Syriac|

Arabic|

Geʽez|

Phonemic representation| n
Position in alphabet| 14
Numerical value| 50
Alphabetic derivatives of the Phoenician
Greek| Ν
Latin| N
Cyrillic| Н

Nun is the fourteenth letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician nūn 𐤍, Hebrew nūn נ‎, Aramaic nūn 𐡍‎, Syriac nūn ܢ, and Arabic nūn ن‎ (in abjadi order). Its numerical value is 50. It is the third letter in Thaana (ނ), pronounced as "noonu". In all languages, it represents the alveolar nasal /n/. It is related to the Ancient North Arabian 𐪌‎‎, South Arabian 𐩬, and Ge'ez ነ.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek nu (Ν), Etruscan , Latin N, and Cyrillic Н.

## Origins

[edit]

See also: Middle Bronze Age alphabets

Nun is believed to descend from an Egyptian hieroglyph of a snake (the Hebrew word for snake, nachash begins with Nun) or eel. Some[citation needed] have hypothesized a hieroglyph of fish in water as its origin (In Aramaic and Akkadian nun means fish, and in Arabic, nūn means large fish or whale). The Phoenician letter was also named nūn "fish", but this name has been suggested to descend from a hypothetical Proto-Canaanite word naḥš "snake", based on the letter name in Ethiopic, ultimately from a hieroglyph representing a snake,

## Arabic nūn

[edit]

Nūn نون

Usage
Writing system| Arabic script
Type| Abjad
Language of origin| Arabic language
Sound values| n
Alphabetical position| 25
History
Development|

* 𓆓
* 𐤫
* 𐤫
* 𐡍
* 𐢔‎, 𐢕‎
* ں
* ن

Descendants| ݨ

Other
Writing direction| Right-to-left
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

The letter is named nūn, and is written is several ways depending in its position in the word:

Position in word:  | Isolated  | Final  | Medial  | Initial

|
|
|
|

Naskh glyph form:
(Help)  | ن‎  | ـن‎  | ـنـ‎  | نـ‎
Nastaʿlīq glyph form:  | ن | ــــن | ــــنــــ | نــــ

Some examples on its uses in Modern Standard Arabic:

Nūn is used as a suffix indicating feminine plural verb conjugations; for example هِيَ تَكْتُب hiya taktub ("she writes") becomes هُنَّ يَكْتُبْنَ hunna yaktubna ("they [feminine] write").

Nūn is also used as the prefix for first-person plural imperfective/present tense verbs. Thus هُوَ يَكْتُب huwa yaktub ("he writes") → نَحْنُ نَكْتُب naḥnu naktub ("we write").

### Punjabi/Saraiki nūn

[edit]

It is retroflex nasal consonantal sound in some languages. Its symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨ɳ⟩, formed by adding a rightward hook to the bottom of ⟨n⟩, the symbol for the corresponding alveolar consonant. The X-SAMPA symbol is `n``.

It is similar to the palatal nasal ⟨ɲ⟩ with a leftward hook from the left stem. Another similar sound is the velar nasal ⟨ŋ⟩ with a leftward hook from the right stem; in Saraiki, this is ݨ, combining nūn and rre ڑ: for example کݨ مݨ، چھݨ چھݨ، ونڄݨ۔ .

### Social media campaign (2014)

[edit]

See also: Christians § Arabic terms, Persecution of Christians by ISIL, and Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian Civil War § Christians

After the fall of Mosul, ISIL demanded Assyrian Christians in the city to convert to Islam, pay tribute, or face execution.[1] ISIL troops begun spray painting homes of Christian residents with the letter nūn for naṣrānī (نصراني; plural naṣārā نصارى, "Nazarene"), a disparaging Arabic term for Christians.[2][3] Thousands were forced to abandon their homes and land, including Christians, Yazidis (given the choice of conversion or death), Shi'a Muslims, and Muslims loyal to other Islamic nations considered apostates by ISIL.

In response to the persecution of Christians and Yazidis by ISIL, an international social media campaign was launched to raise global awareness, symbolized by the letter ن (nun)—the mark painted by ISIL.[4] Some Christians changed their profile pictures to the letter ن as a symbol of support, calling it the "Mark of the Nazarene".[5]

Naṣārā/nosrim designates Christians in Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew, although the more common term for Christians in Modern Standard Arabic is masihi (مسيحي, plural مسيحيون).

### Jawi nya

[edit]

In the Jawi alphabet, the letter nya is a modified form of the letter nūn with two additional dots. However, if nya is initial or medial, its dots will be three dots below instead of three dots above, similarly how the Persian letter pe works on medial or initial form due to its similar looking. This letter also looks like tsa in general. This letter is thus written as:

Position in word:  | Isolated  | Final  | Medial  | Initial

|
|
|
|

Glyph form:
(Help)  | ڽ‎  | ـڽ‎  | ـڽـ‎  | ڽـ‎

The letter nya is also a suffix for indirect object belonging to him/her/it. The example is رومهڽ (rumahnya in Rumi alphabet), which means his/her/its house.

## Hebrew nun

[edit]

Orthographic variants

position

word | Various print fonts | Cursive
Hebrew | Rashi
script
Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced
non final | נ | נ | נ |  |
final | ן | ן | ן |  |

Hebrew spelling: נוּן

The letter in its final position appears with or without a top hook on different sans-serif fonts, for example

* Arial, DejaVu Sans, Arimo, Open Sans: ן
* Tahoma, Noto Sans Hebrew, Alef, Heebo: ן

### Pronunciation

[edit]

Nun represents an alveolar nasal, (IPA: /n/), like the English letter N.

### Variations

[edit]

Nun, like Kaph, Mem, Pe, and Tzadi, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from נ‎ to ן‎. There are also nine instances of an inverted nun (׆‎) in the Tanakh.

### Significance

[edit]

In gematria, Nun represents the number 50. Its final form represents 700 but this is rarely used, Tav and Shin (400+300) being used instead.

As in Arabic, nun as an abbreviation can stand for neqevah, feminine. In medieval Rabbinic writings, Nun Sophit (Final Nun) stood for "Son of" (Hebrew ben).

Nun is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called a tag: plural tagin  ) when written in a Sefer Torah. See Tag (Hebrew writing), Shin, Ayin, Teth, Gimmel, Zayin, and Tzadi.

In the game of dreidel, a rolled Nun passes play to the next player with no other action.

## Syriac nun

[edit]

Position in word:  | Isolated  | Final  | Medial  | Initial

|
|
|
|

Glyph form:
(Help)  | ܢ‎‎  | ـܢ‎‎  | ـܢ‎ـ‎  | ܢ‎ـ‎

## Character encodings

[edit]

Character information  Preview | נ | ן | ن | ࢽ | ܢ | ࠍ

|
|
|
|
|
|

Unicode name  | HEBREW LETTER NUN  | HEBREW LETTER FINAL NUN  | ARABIC LETTER NOON  | ARABIC LETTER AFRICAN NOON  | SYRIAC LETTER NUN  | SAMARITAN LETTER NUN
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex
Unicode | 1504 | U+05E0 | 1503 | U+05DF | 1606 | U+0646 | 2237 | U+08BD | 1826 | U+0722 | 2061 | U+080D
UTF-8 | 215 160 | D7 A0 | 215 159 | D7 9F | 217 134 | D9 86 | 224 162 189 | E0 A2 BD | 220 162 | DC A2 | 224 160 141 | E0 A0 8D
Numeric character reference | &#1504; | &#x5E0; | &#1503; | &#x5DF; | &#1606; | &#x646; | &#2237; | &#x8BD; | &#1826; | &#x722; | &#2061; | &#x80D;

Character information  Preview | 𐎐 | 𐡍 | 𐤍

|
|
|

Unicode name  | UGARITIC LETTER NUN  | IMPERIAL ARAMAIC LETTER NUN  | PHOENICIAN LETTER NUN
Encodings | decimal | hex | dec | hex | dec | hex
Unicode | 66448 | U+10390 | 67661 | U+1084D | 67853 | U+1090D
UTF-8 | 240 144 142 144 | F0 90 8E 90 | 240 144 161 141 | F0 90 A1 8D | 240 144 164 141 | F0 90 A4 8D
UTF-16 | 55296 57232 | D800 DF90 | 55298 56397 | D802 DC4D | 55298 56589 | D802 DD0D
Numeric character reference | &#66448; | &#x10390; | &#67661; | &#x1084D; | &#67853; | &#x1090D;

## See also

[edit]

* Nunation
* Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum) \- a moth of the family Noctuidae.

## References

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nun (letter).

1. ^ "BBC News - Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum". BBC News. 18 July 2014. Archived from the original on 24 July 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
2. ^ "Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum". BBC News. August 7, 2014. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
3. ^ Loveluck, Louisa (August 7, 2014). "Christians flee Iraq's Mosul after Islamists tell them: convert, pay or die". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on July 30, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
4. ^ "A Christian Genocide Symbolized by One Letter". National Review Online. 23 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-08-25. Retrieved 2014-08-22.
5. ^ "#ن: How an Arabic letter was reclaimed to support Iraq's persecuted Christians". euronews. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-08-17. Retrieved 2014-08-20.

* v
* t
* e

Arabic language

Overviews|

* Language
* Alphabet
* History
* Romanization
* Numerology
* Influence on other languages

Scripts|

* Nabataean script
* Arabic script
* Ancient North Arabian
* Ancient South Arabian script
* Arabic numerals
* Eastern numerals
* Arabic Braille
* Algerian Braille
* Maltese Braille
* Diacritics
* i‘jām
* Tashkil
* Harakat
* Nunation (tanwin)
* Shaddah
* Hamza
* Dagger alif
* Maltese alphabet

Letters|

* ʾAlif
* Bāʾ
* Tāʾ
* Ṯāʾ
* Ǧīm
* Ḥāʾ
* Ḫāʾ
* Dāl
* Ḏāl
* Rāʾ
* Zāy
* Sīn
* Šīn
* Ṣād
* Ḍād
* Ṭāʾ
* Ẓāʾ
* ʿAyn
* Ġayn
* Fāʾ
* Qāf
* Kāf
* Lām
* Mīm
* Nūn
* Hāʾ
* Wāw
* Yāʾ

Varieties|

| Pre-Islamic|

* Proto-Arabic
* Nabataean Arabic
* Old Arabic
* Old Hijazi Arabic
* Pre-classical Arabic

|

Literary|

* Classical
* Modern Standard

Modern
spoken|

| Maghrebi|

| Pre-Hilalian|

* Andalusi
* Sicilian
* Maltese
* Australian
* Cottenera
* Gozitan
* Qormi
* Żejtun
* Żurrieqi
* Urban
* Tunis (North-Eastern Tunisian)
* Village
* Eastern
* Sahili (Sahel)
* Sfaxian
* Jijel (Lesser Kabylia)
* Western
* Traras-Msirda
* Jebli (Mountain)
* Judeo-Maghrebi
* Judeo-Moroccan
* Judeo-Tripolitanian
* Judeo-Tunisian

|

Hilalian|

* Central Hilal
* Algerian koiné
* Judeo-Algerian
* Algerian Saharan
* Eastern Algerian
* Eastern Hilal
* Tunisian koiné
* Maqil
* Fessi
* Hassaniya
* Nemadi
* Moroccan koiné
* Eastern
* Western
* Western Algerian
* Sulaym
* Libyan koiné
* Western Egyptian Bedawi

Nile Valley|

* Egyptian
* Saʽidi
* Sudanese

Levantine|

| North|

* Cilician
* Lebanese
* Syrian
* Aleppine
* Damascene

|

South|

* Jordanian
* Palestinian

Mesopotamian|

| Gilit|

* Baghdadi
* Khuzestani
* Shawi
* South

|

North (Qeltu)|

* Anatolian
* Cypriot
* Judeo-Iraqi
* Baghdadi

Peninsular|

* Bahrani
* Bareqi
* Bedawi
* Dhofari
* Gulf
* Bahraini
* Emirati
* Kuwaiti
* Khamseh
* Hejazi
* Najdi
* Omani
* Shihhi
* Yemeni
* Hadhrami
* Sanʽani
* Taʽizzi-Adeni
* Tihami
* Judeo-Yemeni

Others|

* Central Asian
* Bakhtiari
* Bukhara
* Kashkadarya
* Khorasani
* Shirvani
* Chadian
* Nigerian

Sociological|

* Bedouin Arabic

Judeo-Arabic|

* Judeo-Algerian
* Judeo-Egyptian
* Judeo-Iraqi
* Baghdadi
* Judeo-Moroccan
* Kjal
* Wqal
* Judeo-Tripolitanian
* Judeo-Tunisian
* Tunisene
* Judeo-Yemeni
* Adeni
* Beda
* Habban
* Sanʽani

Creoles
and pidgins|

* Bimbashi
* Bongor
* Gulf Pidgin
* Jordanian Bengali Pidgin
* Juba
* Maridi
* Nubi
* Pidgin Madam
* Turku

Academic|

* Literature
* Names

Linguistics|

* Standard Arabic phonology
* Sun and moon letters
* Tajwid
* Imāla
* ʾIʿrāb (case)
* Grammar
* Triliteral root
* Mater lectionis
* IPA
* Quranic Arabic Corpus

Calligraphy
· Script|

* Ajami script
* Diwani
* Hijazi script
* Jawi script
* Jeli Thuluth
* Kairouani
* Kufic
* Maghrebi
* Mashq
* Muhaqqaq
* Naskh (script)
* Nastaliq
* Rasm
* Ruqʿah script
* Shahmukhi
* Sini (script)
* Taliq script
* Tawqi
* Thuluth

Technical|

* Arabic keyboard
* Arabic script in Unicode
* ISO/IEC 8859-6
* Windows-1256
* MS-DOS codepages
* 708
* 709
* 710
* 711
* 720
* 864
* MacArabic encoding

Other|

* Islam and Arabic language

* Italics indicate extinct languages
* Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Hebrew language

Overviews|

* Language
* Alphabet
* History
* Ancient inscriptions
* Transliteration to English / from English
* Gematria

Eras|

* Biblical (northern dialect)
* Mishnaic
* Medieval
* Modern

Reading traditions|

* Ashkenazi
* Sephardi
* Romaniote
* Italian
* Mizrahi (Syrian)
* Yemenite
* Samaritan
* Tiberian (extinct)
* Palestinian (extinct)
* Babylonian (extinct)

Orthography|

| Eras|

* Biblical

|

Scripts|

* Rashi
* Braille
* Ashuri
* Cursive
* Crowning
* Paleo-Hebrew
* Solitreo

Alphabet|

* Alef
* Bet
* Gimel
* Dalet
* Hei
* Vav
* Zayin
* Ḥet
* Tet
* Yud
* Kaf
* Lamed
* Mem
* Nun
* Samech
* Ayin
* Pei
* Tsadi
* Kuf
* Resh
* Shin
* Tav

Niqqud|

* Tiberian
* Babylonian
* Palestinian
* Samaritan

* Shva
* Hiriq
* Tzere
* Segol
* Pataḥ
* Kamatz
* Holam
* Kubutz/shuruk
* Dagesh
* Mappiq
* Maqaf
* Rafe
* Sin/Shin dot

Spelling|

* with Niqqud / missing / full
* Mater lectionis
* Abbreviations
* Plene scriptum

Punctuation|

* Diacritics
* Meteg
* Cantillation
* Geresh
* Gershayim
* Inverted nun
* Shekel sign
* Numerals

Phonology|

* Biblical Hebrew
* Modern Hebrew
* Philippi's law
*   * Law of attenuation

Grammar|

* Biblical
* Modern

* Verbal morphology
* Semitic roots
* Prefixes
* Suffixes
* Segolate
* Vav-consecutive

Academic|

* Revival
* Academy
* Study
* Ulpan
* Keyboard
* Hebrew / ancient / modern Israeli literature
* Names
* Surnames
* Unicode and HTML

Reference works|

* Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar
* Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures
* Brown–Driver–Briggs
* Strong's Concordance
* Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament

* v
* t
* e

The Northwest Semitic abjad

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400

* History
* Inscriptions
* Phoenician
* Paleo-Hebrew
* Hebrew
* Aramaic
* Syriac

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template