From en.wikipedia.org:
[Thirteenth letter of the Latin alphabet] [date=July 2024][the letter of the
Roman alphabet] [ញ] [small=yes] [small=yes] [date=March 2016] {{Infobox
grapheme |name=M |letter=M m |script=Latin script |type=Alphabet |typedesc=ic
and Logographic |language=Latin language |phonemes=[[[m] ]] |unicode=U+004D,
U+006D |alphanumber=13 |number=1000 |fam1=<hiero>N35</hiero>
|fam2=class=skin-invert-image |fam3=class=skin-invert-image
|fam4=class=skin-invert-image |fam5=class=skin-invert-image |fam6=Μ μ
|fam7=class=skin-invert-image |fam8=𐌌 |usageperiod= [circa] 700 BCE to present
|children=[₥] |sisters=[М] |equivalents= |associates=m(x)
|direction=Left-to-right |image=File:Latin_letter_M.svg
|imageclass=skin-invert-image }} [m]
⟨ M⟩, or ⟨ M⟩, is the thirteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the
modern English alphabet, the alphabets of several western European languages
and others worldwide. Its name in English is _em_ (pronounced [']), plural
_ems_.[1]
** History
{| class="wikitable" ! Egyptian hieroglyph<br/>"n" ! Phoenician<br/>Mem !
Western Greek<br/>Mu ! Etruscan<br/>M ! Latin<br/>M |--- align=center
|<hiero>n</hiero> | class=skin-invert-image | class=skin-invert-image |
class=skin-invert-image | class=skin-invert-image |} The letter ⟨M⟩ is derived
from the Phoenician Mem via the Greek Mu ⟨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
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible" |+ Pronunciation of [m] by language !
Orthography ! Phonemes |- ! [Standard Chinese] (Pinyin) | [m] |- ! English |
[m], _silent_ |- ! French | [m] |- ! German | [m] |- ! Portuguese | [m],
_silent_ |- ! Spanish | [m] |- ! Turkish | [m] |}
*** 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
[M (disambiguation)]
- 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). <ref name="freedict"/> However, m is also used as an abbreviation for mile . <ref name="collins"/>
- M is used as the unit abbreviation for molarity . <ref name="freedict" />
- With money amounts, m or M is ambiguous. In the finance industry, [6] m or M means 1,000. In this context, five million dollars is written $5mm or $5MM. Outside of finance, some people use M like the metric system " mega- " to mean one million and write $5M. <ref name="freedict"/> <ref name="collins"/>
- M often represents male or masculine, especially in conjunction with F for female or feminine. <ref name="freedict"/> <ref name="collins"/>
- In typography, an em dash is a punctuation symbol whose width is similar to that of a capital letter M.
- M is used as a logo by many rapid transit systems, standing for "Metro" (or equivalents in other languages.)
** 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
- M with diacritic s: Ḿ ḿ Ṁ ṁ Ṃ ṃ M̃ m̃ ᵯ [7]
- IPA -specific symbols related to M: [ɱ] [ɰ]
- Ɱ : Capital M with hook
- Uralic Phonetic Alphabet -specific symbols related to M: [8]
- [1D0D]
- [1D1F]
- [1D39]
- [1D50]
- [1D5A]
- Some symbols related to M were used by the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902: [9]
- [2098]
- [A7FA]
- The Teuthonista phonetic transcription system uses [AB3A] [10]
- Other variations used for phonetic transcription: [11] ᶆ ᶬ ᶭ
- Ɯ ɯ : Turned M
- ꟽ : Inverted M was used in ancient Roman texts to stand for _mulier_ (woman) [12]
- 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') <ref name="L206269"/>
- 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
- [Copt] : 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
- [Runr] : Runic letter Mannaz , which derives from old Italic M
- [Goth] : Gothic letter manna, which derives from Greek Mu
*** Ligatures and abbreviations
- ₥ : Mill (currency)
- [™] : Trademark symbol
- [℠] : Service mark symbol
** Other representations
*** Computing <span class="anchor" id="Computing codes"> </span>
{{charmap | 004D | 006D | FF2D | FF4D | name1 = Latin Capital Letter M | name2
= Latin Small Letter M | name3 = FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M | name4 =
FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER M | map1 = EBCDIC family | map1char1 = D4 |
map1char2 = 94 | map2 = ASCII[Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the
DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.] | map2char1 = 4D
| map2char2 = 6D }}
*** Other
{{Letter other reps |NATO=Mike |Morse=–– |Character=M |Braille=⠍
|fingerspelling=M }} [clear]
** Notes
[Notelist]
** References
[Reflist]
** External links
- [Commons-inline]
- [M]
- [m]
[M]
Category:ISO basic Latin letters