M

M (named em ) is the thirteenth letter of the modern English alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. 2History 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)-. 2Use in writing systems The letter ⟨m⟩ represents the bilabial nasal consonant sound [m] in the orthography of Latin as well as in that of many modern languages, and also in the International Phonetic Alphabet. In English, the Oxford English Dictionary (first edition) says that ⟨m⟩ is sometimes a vowel in words like spasm and in the suffix -ism. In modern terminology, this is described as a syllabic consonant (IPA [m̩]). 2Other uses 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 by the Romans. 2Related characters 3Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet M with diacritics: Ḿ ḿ Ṁ ṁ Ṃ ṃ M̃ m̃ ᵯ IPA-specific symbols related to M: ɱ ɰ Ɱ : Capital M with hook Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to M: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: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 Other variations used for phonetic transcription: ᶆ ᶬ ᶭ Ɯ ɯ : Turned M ꟽ : Inverted M was used in ancient Roman texts to stand for mulier (woman) 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') ℳ : currency symbol for Mark 3Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets