nun

See also: Nun, nún, nùn, ñun, Nun., and ن‎

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English nonne, nunne, from Old English nunne (“nun”), from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”), originally (along with masculine form nonnus (“man”)) a term of address for elderly persons, perhaps from children's speech, reminiscent of nana, like papa etc. Doublet of nonna.

Pronunciation

enPR: nŭn, IPA^(key): /nʌn/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ʌn
Homophone: none

Noun

nun (plural nuns)

A member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those living together in a cloister.
Synonyms: sister, moniale, sistren
Antonyms: brother, friar, monk, frater
(by extension) A member of a similar female community in other confessions.
a Buddhist nun
(archaic, Britain, slang) A prostitute.[1]
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prostitute
- 1770, Samuel Foote, The Lame Lover, a Comedy in Three Acts. […], London: […] Paul Vaillant; and sold by P[eter] Elmsly […]; and Robinson and Roberts, […], OCLC 1167851914, Act I, page 12:
  Why laſt night, as Colonel Kill'em, Sir William Weezy, Lord Frederick Foretop, and I were careleſsly ſliding the Ranelagh round, picking our teeth, after a damn'd muzzy dinner at Boodle's, who ſhould trip by but an abbeſs, well known about town, with a ſmart little nun in her ſuite.
- 1881, Egan, Pierce, chapter 8, in Life in London‎, page 205:
  "I mean to inform you," answered the Oxonian, with a grin on his face, "that those three nymphs, who have so much dazzled your optics, are three nuns, and the plump female is Mother .... of great notoriety [...]"
A kind of pigeon with the feathers on its head like the hood of a nun.

Usage notes

In Roman Catholicism, a distinction is often drawn (especially by members of female religious orders) between nuns and sisters, the former being cloistered and devoted primarily to prayer, the latter being more active, doing work such as operating hospitals, caring for the poor, or teaching.

Hyponyms

See Poor Clare

Derived terms

nun buoy
nunhood
nunlike, nun-like
nunnery

Related terms

(member of a religious community): nonnus
(prostitute): abbess, abbot, Covent Garden nun

Translations

member of a Christian religious community of women

Albanian: murgeshë (sq) f
Arabic: رَاهِبَة‎ f (rāhiba)
Armenian: միանձնուհի (hy) (mianjnuhi)
Asturian: monxa (ast) f
Azerbaijani: rahibə
Belarusian: мана́шка f (manáška)
Bulgarian: монахи́ня f (monahínja), калу́герка f (kalúgerka)
Catalan: monja (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 修女 (zh) (xiūnǚ), 尼姑 (zh) (nígū), 姑子 (zh) (gūzi), 尼 (zh) (ní)
Czech: jeptiška (cs) f, řeholnice (cs) f
Danish: nonne (da) c
Dutch: non (nl) f, (klooster-, slot-)zuster (nl) f
Erzya: ськамонава (sʹkamonava)
Esperanto: monaĥino
Estonian: nunn
Faroese: nunna f
Finnish: nunna (fi)
French: nonne (fr) f, religieuse (fr) f, bonne sœur (fr) f, moniale (fr) f, nonnain (fr) f
Galician: madre (gl) f, monxa f, touquinegra f (archaic), freira f
Georgian: მონაზონი (monazoni)
German: Nonne (de) f, Ordensschwester (de) f, Klosterschwester f, Schwester (de)
Greek: μοναχή (el) f (monachí), καλόγρια (el) f (kalógria)
Hebrew: נזירה‎ f (nezirá)
Hindi: मठवासिनी f (maṭhvāsinī), भक्तिन (hi) f (bhaktin)
Hungarian: apáca (hu), nővér (hu)
Icelandic: nunna (is) f
Indonesian: biarawati (id), suster (id)
Irish: bean rialta f
Italian: suora (it) f, monaca (it) f
Japanese: 修道女 (しゅうどうじょ, shūdōjo), 尼僧 (ja) (にそう, nisō), 童貞 (ja) (dōtei), (now derogatory) 尼 (ja) (あま, ama)
Korean: 수녀(修女) (ko) (sunyeo), 비구니(比丘尼) (ko) (biguni)
Kyrgyz: монахиня (monahinya)
Latin: nonna f, monacha f
Latvian: mūķene f
Lithuanian: vienuolė f
Luxembourgish: Nonn (lb) f
Macedonian: калуѓерка f (kaluǵerka)
Malay: rahib perempuan
Maori: none
Mongolian: гэлэнмаа (mn) (gelenmaa)
Norman: nonne f
Norwegian: nonne m
Old English: nunne f
Persian: راهبه‎ (fa) (râhebe)
Polish: zakonnica (pl), mniszka (pl) f, siostra zakonna f, siostra (pl) f
Portuguese: freira (pt), religiosa (pt) f, madre (pt) f, monja (pt) f
Romanian: călugăriță (ro) f
Russian: мона́хиня (ru) f (monáxinja), мона́шка (ru) f (monáška)
Scottish Gaelic: cailleach dhubh f, bean-chràbhaidh f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: часна сестра f, калуђерица f, монахиња f, редовница f
Roman: časna sestra (sh) f, kaluđerica (sh) f, monahinja (sh) f, redovnica (sh) f
Skolt Sami: manaših
Slovak: mníška (sk) f, rehoľníčka f
Slovene: nuna (sl) f, redovnica f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: mnichowka f
Spanish: monja (es) f, religiosa (es) f
Swahili: sista (sw)
Swedish: nunna (sv) c
Tagalog: madre
Tajik: роҳиба (rohiba)
Tetun Dili: madre
Thai: ชี (th) (chii), แม่ชี (th)
Turkish: rahibe (tr)
Ukrainian: мона́хиня f (monáxynja), мона́шка f (monáška), черни́ця f (černýcja)
Urdu: راہبہ‎ f (rāhiba), نن‎ (nan)
Uyghur: راھىبە‎ (rahibe)
Uzbek: rohiba (uz), monashka
Vietnamese: xơ (vi), bà xơ (vi), nữ tu sĩ (vi), nữ tu
Vilamovian: nunn f
Volapük: (♂♀) kleudan (vo), (♂) hikleudan (vo), (♀) jikleudan (vo)
Welsh: lleian (cy) f

member of a non-Christian religious community of women

Burmese: သီလရှင် (my) (sila.hrang), ဘိက္ခုနီ (my) (bhikhku.ni) (mendicant Buddhist nun)
Chinese:
Min Nan: 尼姑 (zh-min-nan) ([[li^5-koo¹]])
Czech: mniška f
Esperanto: monaĥino
Galician: monxa f
Georgian: მონაზონი (monazoni)
Greek: μοναχή (el) f (monachí)
Hindi: मठवासिनी f (maṭhvāsinī), तपस्विनी (hi) f (tapasvinī)
Italian: monaca (it) f
Khmer: ជី (km) (cii)
Mongolian: гэлэнмаа (mn) (gelenmaa)
Polish: mniszka (pl) f
Thai: ชี (th) (chii), แม่ชี (th)
Tibetan: ཨ་ནི (a ni)
Tocharian A: aśi
Uyghur: راھىبە‎ (rahibe)
Vietnamese: nữ tu sĩ (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Georgian: ^{(please verify)} კუსი (ḳusi), ^{(please verify)} ყუსი (q̇usi)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from the letter’s name in the respective language. Doublet of nu.

Alternative forms

noon
nūn

Pronunciation

enPR: nŏŏn, IPA^(key): /nʊn/ or enPR: no͞on, IPA^(key): /nuːn/
- Audio (UK) (file)

Noun

nun (plural nuns)

The fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets/abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).

Translations

Semitic letter

Arabic: نُون‎ m (nūn), ن‎ (ar) (n) (letter)
Catalan: nun (ca) f
Dutch: noen (nl)
Finnish: nun (fi)
Hebrew: נון‎ (he) m (nun)
Persian: نون‎ (fa) (nun), ن‎ (letter)
Polish: nun (pl)
Russian: нун (ru) m or n (nun)
Spanish: nun (es) f or n
Urdu: نون‎ f (nūn)
Yiddish: נון‎ m or f (nun)

Pronoun

nun

Pronunciation spelling of nothing.

References

Farmer, John Stephen (1902) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 5, page 76

Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “nun”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Asturian

Alternative forms

ñun (adverb)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnun/, [ˈnũŋ]

Etymology 1

From Latin nōn.

Adverb

nun

not, no (used to make negatives)

Contraction

nun

in a/an (contraction of en + un)

Bambara

Noun

nún

(anatomy) nose

References

Richard Nci Diarra, Lexique bambara-français-anglais, December 13, 2010

Chiricahua

Alternative forms

non (in older Americanist literature)

Etymology

Cognates: Navajo nooʼ, Western Apache non, noi, Plains Apache nǫǫ.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nòn/

Noun

nun

grave, burial place
cache

Esperanto

Etymology

From German nun.

Pronunciation

Audio (file)

IPA^(key): [nun]
Hyphenation: nun

Adverb

nun

now

Derived terms

ĝisnuna (“(up) until now”)
nuna
nune
nuntempe

Fala

Etymology

From Old Portuguese non, from Latin nōn (“not”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnun/

Adverb

nun

Alternative form of non (“no, not”)

References

Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu [Fala Dictionary]‎, CIDLeS, →ISBN, page 211

Finnish

Etymology

From Phoenician [Term?].

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnun/, [ˈnun]
Rhymes: -un
Syllabification^(key): nun

Noun

nun

nun (fourteenth letter of the Hebrew and Phoenician scripts and the Northwest Semitic abjad)

Declension

Inflection of nun (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		nun	nunit
genitive		nunin	nunien
partitive		nunia	nuneja
illative		nuniin	nuneihin
		singular	plural
nominative		nun	nunit
accusative	nom.	nun	nunit
accusative	gen.	nunin	nunit
genitive		nunin	nunien
partitive		nunia	nuneja
inessive		nunissa	nuneissa
elative		nunista	nuneista
illative		nuniin	nuneihin
adessive		nunilla	nuneilla
ablative		nunilta	nuneilta
allative		nunille	nuneille
essive		nunina	nuneina
translative		nuniksi	nuneiksi
instructive		—	nunein
abessive		nunitta	nuneitta
comitative		—	nuneineen

Possessive forms of nun (type risti)
possessor	singular	plural
1st person	nunini	nunimme
2nd person	nunisi	nuninne
3rd person	nuninsa

Galician

Etymology

From contraction of preposition en (“in”) + masculine article un (“a, one”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nuŋ/

Contraction

nun m (feminine nunha, masculine plural nuns, feminine plural nunhas)

in a, in one

German

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nuːn/
Audio (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle High German nu, nū, nuo with a secondary final -n, already occasionally in Middle High German nuon, from Old High German nu, from Proto-West Germanic *nū.

Alternative forms

nu (colloquial; otherwise archaic)

Adverb

nun

now, at this moment
now, then; expressing a logical or temporal consequence
Wir haben abgewaschen, nun müssen wir noch abtrocknen.
We've washed up, now we must dry [the dishes].
Was bedeuten nun die geschilderten Entwicklungen für unser Land?
Now what do the aforementioned developments mean for our country?
unstressed and expletive, used for minor emphasis
Was soll das nun heißen?
What's that supposed to mean now?

Usage notes

Although the adverb is similar and akin to English “now”, German nun is not commonly used in a strictly temporal sense, meaning “at this moment”. For that, see jetzt.

Interjection

nun

now, well, so
Nun, das ist eine schwierige Frage.
Well, that's a tough question.

Etymology 2

Clipping of nun daß or nun da.

Conjunction

nun

(literary or dated colloquial) now that, given that it has occurred that the circumstances do not withstand that …

Hausa

Etymology

From Arabic نُون‎ (nūn).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nún/
- (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [nɪ́ŋ]

Noun

nun f

nun (letter of the Arabic alphabet)

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from Esperanto nun, German nun. Originally replaced with nunk, it was eventually taken back.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nun/

Adverb

nun

now, at present, at this time
Synonym: nunk (archaic)

Derived terms

nuna evento (“a present, current event”)
nuna (“present, actual, current, now occurring”)
nuna stando (“the existing condition, status quo”)
nun kande (“now when, now that”)
nuntempa (“present day, time”)
nuntempe (“at the present time”)

Italian

Etymology

From Hebrew נו״ן‎ (nun).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈnun/
Rhymes: -un
Hyphenation: nùn

Noun

nun f (invariable)

nun, specifically:
1. the name of the Phoenician-script letter 𐤍
2. the name of the Hebrew-script letter נ/ן
3. the name of the Arabic-script letter ن

Lombard

Etymology

Akin to Italian noi, from Latin nos.

Pronoun

nun

we

Mandarin

Romanization

nun

Nonstandard spelling of nún.
Nonstandard spelling of nùn.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Mirandese

Adverb

nun

not

Old French

Etymology 1

See nom.

Noun

nun m (oblique plural nuns, nominative singular nuns, nominative plural nun)

(Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of nom

Etymology 2

Reduced form of negun.

Adjective

nun m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nune)

Alternative form of negun

Pronoun

nun

Alternative form of negun

Rohingya

Alternative forms

(Arabic) نٌ‎, نُنۡ‎
(Bengali) নুন
(Myanmar) နုန်
(Hanifi) 𐴕𐴟𐴕‎ (nun)

Etymology

Compare Bengali নুন (nun).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [nun]

Noun

nun

salt

Synonyms

nomok

Romanian

Etymology

From Late Latin nonnus.

Noun

nun m (plural nuni, feminine equivalent nună)

the godfather at a wedding

Declension

Declension of nun

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) nun	nunul	(niște) nuni	nunii
genitive/dative	(unui) nun	nunului	(unor) nuni	nunilor
vocative	nunule		nunilor

Derived terms

naș

Sicilian

Alternative forms

non, unn, 'un, nn'

Etymology

From Latin nōn.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nun/

Adverb

nun

not

Tat

Etymology

Akin to Persian ‎ (nān, “bread”), see there for more.

Noun

nun

bread

Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic نُون‎ (nūn).

Noun

nun

Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ن

- Previous: م‎
- Next: و‎

Volapük

Noun

nun (nominative plural nuns)

message

Declension

declension of nun

	singular	plural
nominative	nun	nuns
genitive	nuna	nunas
dative	nune	nunes
accusative	nuni	nunis
vocative ¹	o nun!	o nuns!
predicative ²	nunu	nunus

¹ status as a case is disputed
² in later, non-classical Volapük only

Wolof

Alternative forms

ñun (used alongside "nun" in Urban Wolof)

Pronoun

nun

we (first-person plural subject pronoun)

Zazaki

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈnun]
Hyphenation: nun

Noun

nun m

Alternative form of nan

[1] Farmer, John Stephen (1902) Slang and Its Analogues‎, volume 5, page 76

nun

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

Translations

Further reading

Pronoun

References

Asturian

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Adverb

Contraction

Bambara

Noun

References

Chiricahua

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Esperanto

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

Derived terms

Fala

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

References

Finnish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Galician

Etymology

Pronunciation

Contraction

German

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Adverb

Usage notes

Interjection

Etymology 2

Conjunction

Hausa

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Ido

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

Derived terms

Italian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Lombard

Etymology

Pronoun

Mandarin

Romanization

Usage notes