Dictionary of Meaning
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N
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''This article is about the letter N. For the Flash game, see
N (game).''
{{AZ|uc=N|lc=n}}'''N''' is the fourteenth letter of the modern
Latin alphabet. Its name in
English language English is ''en''.
Semitic Nûn was probably the picture of a snake; the sound value of the letter was /n/ - as in Greek, Etruscan, Latin and all modern languages. Greek name: Nυ, Ny.
History of the form
The most common snake
hieroglyphic was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English '
J', because the Egyptian word for snake was "djet". It is speculated that Semitic people working in Egypt adapted hieroglyphics to create the first
alphabet, and that they used the same snake symbol to represent N, because their word for 'snake' may have begun with that sound.
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse;text-align:center;"
|- bgcolor="#EEEEEE"
! Egyptian hieroglyph for 'J'
! Proto-Semitic N
! Phoenician N
! Etruscan N
! Greek N
|-----
|
D
|
Image:Proto-semiticN-01.png
|
Image:PhoenicianN-01.png
|
Image:EtruscanN-01.png
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Image:GreekN-01.png
|}
Usage
N serves as an
alveolar nasal in virtually all languages that use the Latin alphabet. A common digraph with N is NG, which produces a
velar nasal in a variety of languages, usually final in
English language English. In English, ''n'' is silent when it is preceded by an ''m'', in words like ''hymn'' (although it is pronounced in words such as ''damnation'').
Aspirated forms NH and NGH are sometimes seen in other languages.
In the
International Phonetic Alphabet, the lowercase [n] represents the alveolar nasal sound. A small capital [É´] represents the
uvular nasal.
Codes for computing
{{Letter
|NATO=November
|Morse=–·
|B1=â—?
|B2=â—‹
|B3=â—?
|B4=â—?
|B5=â—?
|B6=â—‹
}}
In
Unicode the
majuscule capital N is codepoint U+004E and the
minuscule lowercase n is U+006E.
The
ASCII code for capital N is 78 and for lowercase n is 110; or in
Binary numeral system binary 01001110 and 01101110, correspondingly.
The
EBCDIC code for capital N is 213 and for lowercase a is 149.
The
numeric character references in
HTML and
XML are "
N" and "
n" for upper and lower case respectively.
Meanings for N
* In
astronomy,
** N stands for the planet
Neptune; for example,
S/2002 N 4 is the fourth satellite of Neptune sighted in 2002.
** N stands for a July 1 through 15 discovery, in the provisional designation of a comet (e.g.
C/1825 N1, Comet Pons) or asteroid (e.g.
(5387) 1980 NB).
* In
biochemistry, N is the symbol for
asparagine
* In
calendars, N is often an abbreviation for the
month November
* In
chemistry,
** N is the symbol for
Nitrogen.
** N can denote a measure of purity, referring to the number of nines after the comma. So a substance of purity 3N is 0.999 pure, while a substance of purity 6N is 0.999999 pure.
** ''n'' can be used to denote number of
mole (unit) moles.
* In
computer science and
set theory, n is frequently used as a generic
counting number
* in
chess, N is a notation symbol for the
knight (chess) knight piece, as the letter
K is used for the
king (chess) king.
* In
driving a
motor vehicle, N designates the neutral gear of a
transmission (mechanics) transmission
* In
electronics,
N connector N stands for a type of
RF connector
* In
finance, N is the U.S.
ticker symbol for
Inco Limited
* In
List of international license plate codes international licence plate codes, N stands for
Norway
* In
mathematics
** ''n'' can denote "number of" in
algebraic equations.
**
blackboard bold represents the set of all
natural numbers.
** In the 1995 ''Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences'' (a printed predecessor to the
OEIS) sequences were numbered by lexicographic order prefixed by the letter N. Some older mathematical papers use these N numbers.
* In the
SI metric system,
**N is the symbol for the
newton, the
SI derived unit for
force (physics)
**n,
nano, is the
SI prefix meaning 10
-9
* In
Microsoft Windows, Ctrl-N, and Mac OS, Command-N, creates a new document, a new window or a new folder.
* In
particle physics,
** n is the symbol for a
neutron.
** N is the symbol for a
nucleon.
* In
physics,
** ''n'' is the recommended symbol for: refractive index (optics), principal quantum number (atomic and nuclear physics), order of reflexion, electron number density (solid state physics), amount of substance (chemical physics)
** ''N'' is the recommended symbol for: number of molecules (molecular physics), number of turns (electricity and magnetism), neutron number (atomic and nuclear physics), quantum number of total angular momentum (molecular spectroscopy)
* As the first letter of a
postal code,
** In
Canada, N stands for
Western Ontario.
** In the
United Kingdom, N stands for
North London.
* In
radio radio communication, N is one of the
ITU prefixes allocated to the
United States.
Call signs beginning with N are generally used by
United States Navy U.S. Navy radio stations, as well as civilian aircraft.
* In
road route numbering, N may be used as a prefix,
**In the
Republic of Ireland, standing for a
roads in Ireland national route.
**In
South Africa, standing for a
National Roads in South Africa national road.
* In
statistics, ''n'' is the size of a
Statistical sample sample.
* In
Computer and video games video games, N is the abbreviation for
Nintendo.
N (game) N is also the name of a
Macromedia Flash game.
* In
weather forecasting and
geography, N stands for
north, one of the 4
cardinal directions.
See also
*
Ñ
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