Nun is the fourteenthletter of theSemitic abjads, includingPhoeniciannūn 𐤍,Hebrewnūnנ‎,Aramaicnūn 𐡍‎,Syriacnūn ܢ, andArabicnūnن‎ (inabjadi order). Itsnumerical value is 50. It is the third letter inThaana (ނ), pronounced as "noonu". In all languages, it represents thealveolar nasal /n/. It is related to theAncient North Arabian 𐪌‎‎,South Arabian𐩬, andGe'ezነ.

The Phoenician letter gave rise to theGreeknu (Ν),Etruscan,LatinN, andCyrillicН.

Nun is believed to descend from an Egyptianhieroglyph of a snake (the Hebrew word for snake, נָחָשׁ (nakhash), begins with Nun)^[1] or eel. Some^{[citation needed]} have hypothesized a hieroglyph of fish in water as its origin (In Aramaic and Akkadiannun means fish, and in Arabic,nūn means large fish or whale). The Phoenician letter was also namednūn "fish", but this name has been suggested to descend from a hypotheticalProto-Canaanite wordnaḥš "snake", based on the letter name inEthiopic, ultimately from ahieroglyph representing a snake,

The letter is namednūn, and is written is several ways depending on its position in the word:

Some examples on its uses inModern Standard Arabic:

Nūn is used as a suffix indicating feminine plural verb conjugations; for exampleهِيَ تَكْتُبhiya taktub ("she writes") becomesهُنَّ يَكْتُبْنَhunna yaktubna ("they [feminine] write").

Nūn is also used as the prefix for first-person pluralimperfective/present tense verbs. Thusهُوَ يَكْتُبhuwa yaktub ("he writes") →نَحْنُ نَكْتُبnaḥnu naktub ("we write").

It isretroflex nasalconsonantal sound in some languages. Its symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨ɳ⟩, formed by adding a rightward hook to the bottom of ⟨n⟩, the symbol for the correspondingalveolar consonant. IIt is similar to ݨ, combining nūn and rre ڑ: for example کݨ مݨ، چھݨ چھݨ، ونڄݨ۔ , which is thevelar nasal ⟨ŋ⟩.

After thefall of Mosul, ISIL demandedAssyrian Christians in the city toconvert to Islam,pay tribute, or face execution.^[2] ISIL troops begun spray painting homes of Christian residents with the letternūn fornaṣrānī (نصراني; pluralnaṣārāنصارى, "Nazarene"), a disparaging Arabic term for Christians.^[3][4] Thousands were forced to abandon their homes and land, including Christians, Yazidis (given the choice of conversion or death),Shi'a Muslims, and Muslims loyal to other Islamic nations consideredapostates by ISIL.

In response to thepersecution of Christians andYazidis by ISIL, an international social media campaign was launched to raise global awareness, symbolized by the letterن (nun)—the mark painted by ISIL.^[5] Some Christians changed their profile pictures to the letterن as a symbol of support, calling it the "Mark of the Nazarene".^[6]

Naṣārā/nosrim designates Christians in Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew, although the more common term for Christians inModern Standard Arabic ismasihi (مسيحي, pluralمسيحيون).

In theJawi alphabet, the letternya is a modified form of the letternūn with two additional dots. However, ifnya is initial or medial, its dots will be three dots below instead of three dots above, similarly how the Persian letterpe works on medial or initial form due to its similar looking. This letter also looks liketsa in general. This letter is thus written as:

The letternya is also a suffix for indirect object belonging to him/her/it. The example isرومهڽ (rumahnya in Rumi alphabet), which means his/her/its house.

Orthographic variants
position in word	Various print fonts			Cursive Hebrew	Rashi script
	Serif	Sans-serif	Monospaced
non final	נ	נ	נ
final	ן	ן	ן

Hebrew spelling:נוּן

The letter in its final position appears with or without a top hook on different sans-serif fonts, for example

• Arial, DejaVu Sans, Arimo, Open Sans:ן
• Tahoma, Noto Sans Hebrew, Alef, Heebo:ן

Nun represents analveolar nasal, (IPA:/n/), like the English letterN.

Nun, likeKaph,Mem,Pe, andTzadi, has afinal form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes fromנ‎ toן‎.There are also nine instances of aninverted nun (׆‎) in theTanakh.

Ingematria, Nun represents the number 50. Its final form represents 700 but this is rarely used,Tav andShin (400+300) being used instead.

As in Arabic, nun as an abbreviation can stand forneqevah, feminine. In medieval Rabbinic writings, Nun Sophit (Final Nun) stood for "Son of" (Hebrewben).

Nun is also one of the seven letters which receive a special crown (called atag: pluraltagin ) when written in aSefer Torah. SeeTag (Hebrew writing),Shin,Ayin,Teth,Gimmel,Zayin, andTzadi.

In the game ofdreidel, a rolled Nun passes play to the next player with no other action.

• Nunation
• Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum) - amoth of the familyNoctuidae.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNun (letter).

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