M

M, or m, is the thirteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is em (pronounced /ˈɛm/), plural ems.^[1]

History

The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem via the Greek Mu (Μ, μ). Semitic Mem is most likely derived from a "Proto-Sinaitic" (Bronze Age) adoption of the "water" ideogram in Egyptian writing. The Egyptian sign had the acrophonic value /n/, from the Egyptian word for "water", nt; the adoption as the Semitic letter for /m/ was presumably also on acrophonic grounds, from the Semitic word for "water", *mā(y)-.^[2]

Use in writing systems

English

In English, ⟨m⟩ represents the voiced bilabial nasal /m/.

The Oxford English Dictionary (first edition) says that ⟨m⟩ is sometimes a vowel, such as in words like spasm and in the suffix -ism. In modern terminology, this is described as a syllabic consonant (IPA: /m̩/).

M is the fourteenth most frequently used letter in the English language.

Other languages

The letter ⟨m⟩ represents the voiced bilabial nasal /m/ in the orthography of Latin as well as in those of many modern languages.

In Washo, lower-case ⟨m⟩ represents a voiced bilabial nasal /m/, while upper-case ⟨M⟩ represents a voiceless bilabial nasal /m̥/.

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ⟨m⟩ represents the voiced bilabial nasal /m/.

Other uses

Styled letter M in the coat of arms of Miehikkälä

The Roman numeral M represents the number 1000, though it was not used in Roman times. There is, however, scant evidence that the letter was later introduced in the early centuries A.D. by the Romans.^[3]
Unit prefix M (mega), meaning one million times, and m (milli) meaning one-thousandth.^[4]^[5]
m is the standard abbreviation for metre (or meter) in the International System of Units (SI).^[4] However, m is also used as an abbreviation for mile.^[5]
M is used as the unit abbreviation for molarity.^[4]
With money amounts, m or M can mean one million: For example, $5m is five million dollars.^[4]^[5]
M often represents male or masculine, especially in conjunction with F for female or feminine.^[4]^[5]
In typography, an em dash is a punctuation symbol whose width is similar to that of a capital letter M.

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

M with diacritics: Ḿ ḿ Ṁ ṁ Ṃ ṃ M̃ m̃ ᵯ^[6]
IPA-specific symbols related to M: ɱ ɰ
Ɱ : Capital M with hook
Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to M:^[7]
- U+1D0D ᴍ LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL M
- U+1D1F ᴟ LATIN SMALL LETTER SIDEWAYS TURNED M
- U+1D39 ᴹ MODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL M
- U+1D50 ᵐ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL M
- U+1D5A ᵚ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL TURNED M
Some symbols related to M were used by the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902:^[8]
- U+2098 ₘ LATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER M
- U+A7FA ꟺ LATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL TURNED M
The Teuthonista phonetic transcription system uses U+AB3A ꬺ LATIN SMALL LETTER M WITH CROSSED-TAIL^[9]
Other variations used for phonetic transcription:^[10] ᶆ ᶬ ᶭ
Ɯ ɯ : Turned M
ꟽ : Inverted M was used in ancient Roman texts to stand for mulier (woman)^[11]
ꟿ : Archaic M was used in ancient Roman texts to abbreviate the personal name 'Manius' (A regular capital M was used for the more common personal name 'Marcus')^[11]
ℳ : currency symbol for Mark

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

𐤌 : Semitic letter Mem, from which the following symbols originally derive:
- Μ μ : Greek letter Mu, from which M derives
  - Ⲙ ⲙ : Coptic letter Me, which derives from Greek Mu
  - М м : Cyrillic letter Em, also derived from Mu
  - 𐌌 : Old Italic M, which derives from Greek Mu, and is the ancestor of modern Latin M
    - ᛗ : Runic letter Mannaz, which derives from old Italic M
  - 𐌼 : Gothic letter manna, which derives from Greek Mu

Ligatures and abbreviations

Other representations

Computing

¹ Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

Other

References

^ "M" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "em," op. cit.
^ See F. Simons, "Proto-Sinaitic — Progenitor of the Alphabet" Rosetta 9 (2011): Figure Two: "Representative selection of proto-Sinaitic characters with comparison to Egyptian hieroglyphs", (p. 38) Figure Three: "Chart of all early proto-Canaanite letters with comparison to proto-Sinaitic signs" (p. 39), Figure Four: "Representative selection of later proto-Canaanite letters with comparison to early proto-Canaanite and proto-Sinaitic signs" (p. 40). See also: Goldwasser (2010), following Albright (1966), "Schematic Table of Proto-Sinaitic Characters" (fig. 1 Archived 2016-07-03 at the Wayback Machine).
^ Gordon, Arthur E. (1983). Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy. University of California Press. pp. 45. ISBN 9780520038981. Retrieved October 3, 2015. roman numerals.
^ a b c d e "What does M stand for?". The Free Dictionary. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
^ a b c d "M definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
^ Constable, Peter (September 30, 2003). "L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
^ Everson, Michael; et al. (March 20, 2002). "L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
^ Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (January 27, 2009). "L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
^ Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl; Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (June 2, 2011). "L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
^ Constable, Peter (April 19, 2004). "L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
^ a b Perry, David J. (August 1, 2006). "L2/06-269: Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on June 14, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2018.

External links

Media related to M at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of M at Wiktionary
The dictionary definition of m at Wiktionary