View source for N

{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{About|the letter of the alphabet}}
{{pp-move-indef|small=yes}}
{{short description|14th letter of the Latin alphabet}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}{{Infobox grapheme
|name = N
|letter = N n
|script=[[Latin script]]
|type=[[Alphabet]] 
|typedesc=ic and [[logographic]]
|language=[[Latin language]]
|phonemes=[{{IPAlink|n}}]<br />[{{IPAlink|ŋ}}]<br />[{{IPAlink|ɲ}}]<br />[{{IPAlink|ɳ}}]<br />[[Help:IPA/Irish|[nˠ]]]<br />[{{IPAlink|ⁿ}}]<br />[{{IPAlink|̃|◌̃}}]<br />{{IPAc-en|ɛ|n}}
|unicode=U+004E, U+006E
|alphanumber=14
|number=
|fam1=<hiero>I10</hiero>
|fam2=[[File:Proto-semiticN-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Sinaitic Nun]]
|fam3=[[File:Protonun.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Proto-Caanite Nun]]
|fam4=[[File:Phoenician_nun.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Phoenician Nun]]
|fam5=[[File:Greek_Nu_01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px|Early Greek Ny]]
|fam6=[[Nu (letter)|Ν ν]]
|fam7=[[File:EtruscanN-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|20px]]
|fam8=[[𐌍]]
|usageperiod=~−700 to present
|children={{bull}}[[₦]]<br />{{bull}}[[Ƞ]]<br />{{bull}}[[Ŋ]]<br />{{bull}}[[ɧ]]<br />{{bull}}[[ʩ]]
|sisters=[[Н]]<br />[[Ң]]<br />[[Ӊ]]<br />[[Ӈ]]<br />[[Ԋ]]<br />[[Nun (letter)|נ<br />ן<br />ن<br />ܢ]]<br />[[ނ]]<br />[[wikt:Ն|Ն]] [[wikt:ն|ն]]<br />[[wikt:Մ|Մ]] [[wikt:մ|մ]]<br />[[ࠍ]]<br />[[ነ]]<br />[[ᚾ]]<br />[[Ꮋ]]<br />[[Ꮑ]]<br />[[Ꮓ]]
|equivalents=
|associates=[[List of Latin-script digraphs#N|n(x)]], [[Nh (digraph)|nh]], [[Ng (digraph)|ng]], [[Ny (digraph)|ny]]
|direction=Left-to-right
|image=File:Latin_letter_N.svg
|imageclass=skin-invert-image
}}
{{Latin letter info|n}}
'''N''', or '''n''', is the fourteenth [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of the [[Latin alphabet]], used in the [[English alphabet|modern English alphabet]], the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is [[English alphabet#Letter names|''en'']] (pronounced {{IPAc-en|'|ɛ|n}}), plural ''ens''.<ref>"N" ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' 2nd edition (1989); ''Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1993); "en," op. cit.</ref>

==History==
{| class="wikitable"
! Egyptian hieroglyph<br />
! Phoenician<br />[[Nun (letter)|Nun]]
! Western Greek<br />[[Nu (letter)|Nu]]
! Etruscan<br /> N
! Latin<br /> N
|--- align=center
|<hiero>D</hiero>
| [[File:PhoenicianN-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|x30px]]
| [[File:Greek Nu 01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|x35px]]
| [[File:EtruscanN-01.svg|class=skin-invert-image|x30px]]
| [[File:Capitalis monumentalis N.SVG|class=skin-invert-image|x30px|Latin N]]
|}
  
One of the most common [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphs]], [[snake]], was used in [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] writing to stand for a sound like the English {{angbr|[[J]]}}, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was ''djet''. It is speculated by some, such as archeologist Douglas Petrovich, that [[Semitic languages|Semitic speakers]] working in Egypt adapted hieroglyphs to create the first [[alphabet]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-11-19 |title=Oldest alphabet identified as Hebrew |url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/oldest-alphabet-identified-hebrew |access-date=2024-06-24 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Some hold that they used the same snake symbol to represent N, with a great proponent of this theory being [[Alan Gardiner]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=The world's writing systems |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7 |editor-last=Daniels |editor-first=Peter T. |location=New York |language=en |editor-last2=Bright |editor-first2=William}}</ref> because their word for "snake" may have begun with n (an example of a possible word being ''nahash''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldwasser |first=Orly |title=How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs |url=https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/how-the-alphabet-was-born-from-hieroglyphs/ |access-date=2024-06-24 |website=The BAS Library |language=en-US}}</ref>). However, this theory has become disputed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=LeBlanc |first=Paul |title=Deciphering the Proto-Sinaitic Script: Making Sense of the Wadi El-Hol and Serabit El-Khadim Early Alphabetic Inscriptions |date=2017 |publisher=SubclassPress |isbn=9780995284401}}</ref> The name for the letter in the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Aramaic]], and [[Arabic alphabet|Arabic]] alphabets is ''[[Nun (letter)|nun]]'', which means "[[fish]]" in some of these languages. This possibly connects the letter to the [[𓈖|hieroglyph for a water ripple]], which phonetically makes the n sound.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gardiner's Sign List of Egyptian Hieroglyphs – Egyptian Hieroglyphs |url=https://www.egyptianhieroglyphs.net/gardiners-sign-list/ |access-date=2024-06-24 |language=en-US}}</ref> The sound value of the letter was {{IPA|/n/}}—as in [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]], [[Latin]], and modern languages.

==Use in writing systems==
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
|+ Pronunciation of {{angbr|n}} by language
! Orthography
! Phonemes
|-
! {{nwr|[[Standard Chinese]]}} ([[Pinyin]])
| {{IPAslink|n}}
|-
! [[English orthography|English]]
| {{IPAslink|n}}, ''silent''
|-
! [[French orthography|French]]
| {{IPAslink|n}}
|-
! [[German orthography|German]]
| {{IPAslink|n}}
|-
! [[Portuguese orthography|Portuguese]] 
| {{IPAslink|n}}
|-
! [[Spanish orthography|Spanish]]
| {{IPAslink|n}}
|-
! [[Turkish alphabet|Turkish]]
| {{IPAslink|n}}
|}

===English===
In [[English orthography|English]], {{angbr|n}} usually represents a [[voiced alveolar nasal]] {{IPA|/n/}}, but can represent other [[nasal consonants]] due to [[Assimilation (phonology)|assimilation]]. For example, before a [[velar stop|velar plosive]] (as in ''ink'' or ''jungle''), {{angbr|n}} represents a [[voiced velar nasal]] {{IPA|/ŋ/}}.

{{angbr|n}} is generally silent when it is preceded by an {{angbr|m}} at the end of words, as in ''hymn''; however, it is pronounced in this combination when occurring word medially, as in ''hymnal''. Other consonants are often silent when they precede an {{angbr|n}} at the beginning of an English word. Examples include ''gnome'', ''knife'', ''mnemonic'', and ''pneumonia''.

The letter N is the sixth-most [[Letter frequency|common letter]] and the second-most commonly used [[consonant]] in the [[English language]] (after {{angbr|t}}).<ref>{{cite web| url = https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~mec/2003-2004/cryptography/subs/frequencies.html| title = English Letter Frequency}}</ref>

===Other languages===
The letter {{angbr|n}} represents a [[voiced dental nasal]] {{IPA|/n̪/}} or [[voiced alveolar nasal]] {{IPA|/n/}} in virtually all languages that use the Latin alphabet. In many languages, these nasal consonants [[Assimilation (phonology)|assimilate]] with the consonant that follows them to produce other nasal consonants.

In [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[French language|French]], {{angbr|gn}} represents a [[palatal nasal]] {{IPA|/ɲ/}}. The [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] spelling for this sound is {{angbr|nh}}, while [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[Breton language|Breton]], and a few other languages use the letter {{angbr|[[ñ]]}}.

A common [[digraph (orthography)|digraph]] with {{angbr|n}} is {{angbr|ng}}, which represents a [[voiced velar nasal]] {{IPA|/ŋ/}} in a variety of languages.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

===Other systems===
In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], {{angbr|n}} represents the [[voiced alveolar nasal]] {{IPA|/n/}}.

==Other uses==
{{main article|N (disambiguation)}}
* In [[mathematics]], the italic form ''n'' is a particularly common symbol for a [[Variable (mathematics)|variable]] quantity which represents a [[natural number]]. The [[set (mathematics)|set]] of natural numbers is referred to as <math>\mathbb{N}</math>.

==Related characters==
<!-- Please only list characters (symbols in a writing system, but not just convenience code points in Unicode) that are actually related in terms of origin to the letter that is the topic of this article. Characters that merely look subjectively similar need not apply. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources before adding more. -->

===Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet===
*N with [[diacritic]]s: [[Ń|Ń ń]] [[Ñ|Ñ ñ]] [[Ň|Ň ň]] [[Ǹ|Ǹ ǹ]] [[Ṅ|Ṅ ṅ]] [[Dot (diacritic)|Ṇ ṇ]] [[Cedilla|Ņ ņ]] [[Ṉ|Ṉ ṉ]] [[Ṋ|Ṋ ṋ]] [[Ꞥ|Ꞥ ꞥ]] [[ᵰ]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf|title=L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS|date=2003-09-30|first=Peter|last=Constable}}</ref> [[ᶇ]]<ref name="L204132">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable}}</ref>
*[[Phonetic transcription#Alphabetic|Phonetic alphabet]] symbols related to N (the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]] only uses lowercase, but uppercase forms are used in some other writing systems): 
**Ŋ ŋ : [[Eng (letter)|Latin letter eng]], which represents a [[velar nasal]] in the IPA
**𝼔 : Small letter eng with palatal hook, which is used in [[phonetic transcription]]<ref name="L220125">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-125R: Unicode request for expected IPA retroflex letters and similar letters with hooks|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20125r-ipa-retroflex.pdf|date=2020-07-11|first=Kirk|last=Miller}}</ref><ref name="L221021">{{Cite web|title=L2/21-021: Reference doc numbers for L2/20-266R "Consolidated code chart of proposed phonetic characters" and IPA etc. code point and name changes|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21021-consolidated-ipa.pdf|date=2020-12-07|first=Deborah|last=Anderson}}</ref>
**𝼇 : Small letter reversed eng, which is an [[Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet|extension to IPA]] for disordered speech (extIPA)<ref name="L220116">{{Cite web|title=L2/20-116R: Expansion of the extIPA and VoQS|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20116r-ext-ipa-voqs-expansion.pdf|date=2020-07-11|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Martin|last2=Ball}}</ref>
**Ɲ ɲ : [[Ɲ|Latin letter Ɲ]], which represents a [[palatal nasal]] or an [[alveolo-palatal consonant|alveolo-palatal]] nasal in the IPA
**<sup>n</sup> : Superscript small n, which represents a [[nasal release]] in the IPA
**Ƞ ƞ : [[Ƞ|Latin letter Ƞ]] (encoded in Unicode as "N with long right leg"), a mostly obsolete letter used to transcribe various nasal sounds
** ɳ : Latin letter n with a hook, which represents a [[retroflex nasal]] in the IPA
** ᶯ : Modifier letter small n with retroflex hook<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2004-04-19|first=Peter|last=Constable}}</ref>
** [[ᶮ]] : Modifier letter small n with left hook<ref name="L204132"/>
**ɴ : Small capital N, which represents a [[uvular nasal]] in the IPA
**ᶰ : Modifier letter small capital N<ref name="L204132"/>
*[[Uralic Phonetic Alphabet]]-specific symbols related to N:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf|title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS|date=2002-03-20|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|author-link1=Michael Everson|display-authors=etal}}</ref>
**{{Unichar|1D0E|LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL REVERSED N}}
**{{Unichar|1D3A|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL N}}
**{{Unichar|1D3B|MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL REVERSED N}}
**{{Unichar|1D51|MODIFIER LETTER SMALL ENG}}
*<sub>n</sub> : Subscript small n was used in the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09028-n3571-upa-additions.pdf|title=L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet|date=2009-01-27|first1=Klaas|last1=Ruppel|first2=Tero|last2=Aalto|first3=Michael|last3=Everson}}</ref>
* [[Teuthonista]] phonetic transcription system uses {{Unichar|AB3B|LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH CROSSED-TAIL}} and {{Unichar|AB3C|LATIN SMALL LETTER ENG WITH CROSSED-TAIL}}<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11202-n4081-teuthonista.pdf|title=L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS|date=2011-06-02|first1=Michael|last1=Everson|first2=Alois|last2=Dicklberger|first3=Karl|last3=Pentzlin|first4=Eveline|last4=Wandl-Vogt}}</ref>
* [[ȵ]] : N with curl is used in Sino-Tibetanist linguistics<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2001/01347-n2366r.pdf|title=L2/01-347: Proposal to add six phonetic characters to the UCS|date=2001-09-20|first1=Richard|last1=Cook|first2=Michael|last2=Everson}}</ref>
*Ꞑ ꞑ : [[N with descender]]
*: Small letter n with mid-height left hook was used by the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]] in the early 20th century for [[romanization]] of the [[Malayalam]] language.<ref name="L221156">{{Cite web|title=L2/21-156: Unicode request for legacy Malayalam|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2021/21156-legacy-malayalam.pdf|date=2021-07-16|first1=Kirk|last1=Miller|first2=Neil|last2=Rees}}</ref>

===Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets===
*𐤍 : [[Phoenician alphabet|Semitic]] letter [[Nun (letter)|Nun]], from which the following symbols originally derive:
**Ν ν : [[Nu (letter)|Greek letter Nu]], from which the following symbols originally derive:
***{{Script|Copt|Ⲛ ⲛ}} : [[Coptic alphabet|Coptic]] letter Ne
***Н н : [[Cyrillic]] letter [[En (Cyrillic)|En]]
*** 𐌍 : [[Old Italic script|Old Italic]] N, which is the ancestor of modern Latin N
***{{Script|Goth|𐌽}} : [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic]] letter nauþs

===Derived signs, symbols and abbreviations===
*₦ : [[Nigerian Naira]]

{{anchor|Codes for computing}}

==Other representations==
===Computing <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"></span>===
{{charmap
| 004E | 006E | FF2E | FF4E | name1 = Latin Capital Letter N | name2 = Latin Small Letter N | name3 = FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N | name4 = FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER N
| map1 = [[EBCDIC]] family | map1char1 = D5 | map1char2 = 95
| map2 = [[ASCII]]{{efn|Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.}} | map2char1 = 4E | map2char2 = 6E
}}

===Other===
{{Letter other reps
|NATO=November
|Morse=–·
|Character=N
|Braille=⠝
|fingerspelling=N
}}
{{clear}}

==See also==
* {{Unichar|0418|Cyrillic capital letter I|nlink=И}}
* {{Unichar|1D0E|Latin small capital reversed N|nlink=Phonetic Extensions}} – phonetic symbol

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Commons-inline|N}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|n}}

{{Latin alphabet|N|}}

[[Category:ISO basic Latin letters]]