Wiktionary

nun

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

EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

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.
    a Buddhist nun
  3. (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, 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[2], 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.
Usage notesEdit

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.

HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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

Further readingEdit

Etymology 2Edit

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

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

nun (plural nuns)

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

Further readingEdit

Etymology 3Edit

PronounEdit

nun

  1. Pronunciation spelling of nothing.

ReferencesEdit

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

AsturianEdit

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Latin nōn.

AdverbEdit

nun

  1. not, no (used to make negatives)

Etymology 2Edit

ContractionEdit

nun

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

BambaraEdit

NounEdit

nún

  1. (anatomy) nose

ReferencesEdit

ChiricahuaEdit

Alternative formsEdit

  • non (in older Americanist literature)

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

nun

  1. grave, burial place
  2. cache

EsperantoEdit

EtymologyEdit

From German nun.

PronunciationEdit

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

AdverbEdit

nun

  1. now

Derived termsEdit

FalaEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

AdverbEdit

nun

  1. Alternative form of non (“no, not”)

ReferencesEdit

  • Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu [Fala Dictionary]‎[3], CIDLeS, →ISBN, page 211

FinnishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Phoenician [Term?].

PronunciationEdit

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

NounEdit

nun

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

DeclensionEdit

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
gen. nunin
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

GalicianEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

ContractionEdit

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

  1. in a, in one

GermanEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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 formsEdit

  • nu (colloquial; otherwise archaic)

AdverbEdit

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?
Usage notesEdit
  • 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.

InterjectionEdit

nun

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

Etymology 2Edit

Clipping of nun daß or nun da.

ConjunctionEdit

nun

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

HausaEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Arabic نُون‎ (nūn).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

nun f

  1. nun (letter of the Arabic alphabet)

IdoEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

AdverbEdit

nun

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

Derived termsEdit

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

ItalianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Hebrew נו״ן‎ (nun).

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈnun/
  • Rhymes: -un
  • Syllabification: nùn

NounEdit

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

LombardEdit

EtymologyEdit

Akin to Italian noi, from Latin nos.

PronounEdit

nun

  1. we

MandarinEdit

RomanizationEdit

nun

  1. Nonstandard spelling of nún.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of nùn.

Usage notesEdit

  • 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.

MirandeseEdit

AdverbEdit

nun

  1. not

Old FrenchEdit

Etymology 1Edit

See nom.

NounEdit

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

  1. (Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of nom

Etymology 2Edit

Reduced form of negun.

AdjectiveEdit

nun m (oblique and nominative feminine singular nune)

  1. Alternative form of negun

PronounEdit

nun

  1. Alternative form of negun

RohingyaEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

Compare Bengali নুন (nun).

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

nun

  1. salt

SynonymsEdit

RomanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Late Latin nonnus.

NounEdit

nun m (plural nuni, feminine equivalent nună)

  1. the godfather at a wedding

DeclensionEdit

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 termsEdit

See alsoEdit

SicilianEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin nōn.

PronunciationEdit

AdverbEdit

nun

  1. not

TatEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

NounEdit

nun

  1. bread

TurkishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Arabic نُون‎ (nūn).

NounEdit

nun

  1. Letter of the Arabic alphabet: ن
    • Previous: م‎
    • Next: و‎

VolapükEdit

NounEdit

nun (nominative plural nuns)

  1. message

DeclensionEdit

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

WolofEdit

Alternative formsEdit

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

PronounEdit

nun

  1. we (first-person plural subject pronoun)

See alsoEdit

Wolof personal pronouns
singular subject plural subject singular object plural object
1st person man nun ma nu
2nd person yow yeen la leen
3rd person moom ñoom ko leen

ZazakiEdit

PronunciationEdit

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

NounEdit

nun

  1. Alternative form of nan
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