nun

From Old English nunne (“nun, priestess”), 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.

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

nun (plural nuns)

1. 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

2. (by extension) A member of a similar female community in other confessions.
3. (archaic, Britain, slang) A prostitute.[1]

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:prostitute

   • 1770, Foote, Samuel, The Lame Lover‎, page 12:

     Then lend me your ear—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 [...]"

4. A kind of pigeon with the feathers on its head like the hood of a nun.

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.

• nunhood
• nunlike, nun-like
• nunnery

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

Borrowed from the letter’s name in the respective language.

• noon
• nūn

• enPR: nŏŏn, IPA^(key): /nʊn/ or enPR: no͞on, IPA^(key): /nuːn/

nun (plural nuns)

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

• Nun (letter) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “nun” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

• ñun (adverb)

From Latin nōn.

nun

1. not, no (used to make negatives)

nun

1. in a/an (contraction of en + un)

• non (in older Americanist literature)

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

• IPA^(key): /nòn/

nun

1. grave, burial place
2. cache

From German nun.

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /nun/
• Hyphenation: nun

nun

1. now

nun

1. Alternative form of non

nun

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

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

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

1. in a, in one

• nu (colloquial; otherwise archaic)

From Middle High German nu, nū, nuo with a secondary final -n, already occasionally in Middle High German nuon.

• IPA^(key): /nuːn/

• Audio

  (file)

nun

1. now, at this moment
2. 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?

3. unstressed and expletive, used for minor emphasis

   Was soll das nun heißen?

   What's that supposed to mean now?

• 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.

nun

1. now, well, so

   Nun, das ist eine schwierige Frage.

   Well, that's a tough question.

nun f

1. Arabic letter nun (ن‎)

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

• IPA^(key): /nun/

nun

1. now, at present, at this time

   Synonym: nunk (archaic)

From Hebrew נו״ן‎ (nun).

• IPA^(key): /nun/, [n̺un̺]
• Stress: nùn
• Hyphenation: nun

nun f (invariable)

1. 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

nun

1. not

nun

1. now

See nom.

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

1. (Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of nom

Reduced from of negun.

nun m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nune)

1. Alternative form of negun

nun

1. Alternative form of negun

From Bengali [Term?].

nun

1. salt

From Late Latin nonnus.

nun m (plural nuni, feminine equivalent nună)

1. the godfather at a wedding

• naș

• nuntă

From Arabic نُون‎ (nūn).

nun

1. Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ن

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nun (plural nuns)

1. message

• ñun (used alongside "nun" in Urban Wolof)

nun

1. we (first-person plural subject pronoun)

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

nun m

1. Alternative form of nan