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External Websites Britannica Websites Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Also known as: N Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Table of Contents
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n, fourteenth letter of the alphabet. In all known alphabets the letter has stood in close connection with m, the particular form of one being generally reflected in the other. The Semitic form nun (originally probably meaning “fish”) and the Greek nu (Ν) are its predecessors.
The form evolved from early inscriptions from Thera and Corinth to a three-stroke character in the Ionic alphabet of Abu Simbel. The four-stroke Etruscan character resembled the Latin M, while the Latin form was largely indistinguishable from the modern N. The Carolingian hand developed the rounded minuscule form, and from this derives the modern minuscule n.
The sound that the letter has represented throughout its history is the dental nasal, the nasals being of all sounds the least liable to change. Before the velar consonants k, hard c, hard g, q, and x, however, n has the velar sound heard in long as distinguished from the dental sound heard in lawn (e.g., in ink, angle, relinquish). This is not the case in unkempt or ingrate, where n ends the prior member of a compound.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.
