M

M
M
M m
Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	AlphabeticandLogographic
Language of origin	Latin language
Sound values	[m]; [ɱ]; [n]; [n̼]; /ɛm/;
InUnicode	U+004D, U+006D
Alphabetical position	13; Numerical value:1000
History
Development	Μ μ 𐌌 M m; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Time period	~−700 to present
Descendants	₥; ™℠; ᴟ; ꬺ; ꟽɯɰ; ꟿ; ᛗ;
Sisters	М; Ӎ; מ; ם; م; ܡ; מּ; ﬦ; ; Ⰿ; ࠌ; 𐌼;
Other
Associated graphs	m(x)
Associated numbers	1000
Writing direction	Left-to-right
	This article containsphonetic transcriptionsin theInternational Phonetic Alphabet(IPA).For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA.For the distinction between[ ],/ /and ⟨⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

M,orm,is the thirteenthletterof theLatin Alpha bet,used in themodern English Alpha bet,the Alpha bets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English isem(pronounced/ˈɛm/), pluralems.^[1]

History

Egyptian hieroglyph
"n"

Phoenician
Mem

Western Greek
Mu

Etruscan
M

Latin
M

The letter M is derived from thePhoenician Memvia theGreek Mu(Μ, μ).SemiticMem is most likely derived from a "Proto-Sinaitic"(Bronze Age) adoption of the"water" ideograminEgyptian writing.The Egyptian sign had theacrophonicvalue/n/,from the Egyptian word for "water",nt;the adoption as the Semitic letter for/m/was presumably also on acrophonic grounds, from theSemiticword for "water",*mā(y)-.^[2]

Use in writing systems

Pronunciation of⟨m⟩by language
Orthography	Phonemes
Standard Chinese(Pinyin)	/m/
English	/m/,silent
French	/m/
German	/m/
Portuguese	/m/,silent
Spanish	/m/
Turkish	/m/

English

InEnglish,⟨m⟩represents thevoiced bilabial nasal/m/.

TheOxford English Dictionary(first edition) says that⟨m⟩is sometimes avowel,such as in words likespasmand in thesuffix-ism.In modern terminology, this is described as asyllabic consonant(IPA:/m̩/).

M is thefourteenth most frequently used letterin the English language.

Other languages

The letter⟨m⟩represents thevoiced bilabial nasal/m/in the orthography of Latin as well as in those of many modernlanguages.

InWasho,lower-case⟨m⟩represents avoiced bilabial nasal/m/,while upper-case⟨M⟩represents avoiceless bilabial nasal/m̥/.

Other systems

In theInternational Phonetic Alphabet,⟨m⟩represents thevoiced bilabial nasal/m/.

Other uses

Styled letter M in the coat of arms ofMiehikkälä

TheRoman numeralM represents the number1000,though it was not used inRoman times.There is, however, scant evidence that the letter was later introduced in the early centuries A.D. by the Romans.^[3]
Unit prefixM (mega), meaning one million times, and m (milli) meaning one-thousandth.^[4]^[5]
m is the standard abbreviation formetre(or meter) in theInternational System of Units(SI).^[4]However, m is also used as an abbreviation formile.^[5]
M is used as the unit abbreviation formolarity.^[4]
With money amounts, m or M is ambiguous. In the finance industry,^[6]m or M means 1,000. In this context, five million dollars is written $5mm or $5MM. Outside of finance, some people use M like the metric system "mega-"to mean one million and write $5M.^[4]^[5]
M often represents male or masculine, especially in conjunction with F for female or feminine.^[4]^[5]
In typography, anem dashis a punctuation symbol whose width is similar to that of a capital letter M.

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin Alpha bet

M withdiacritics:Ḿ ḿ Ṁ ṁ Ṃ ṃM̃ m̃ ᵯ^[7]
IPA-specific symbols related to M:ɱɰ
Ɱ:Capital M with hook
Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to M:^[8]
- U+1D0DᴍLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL M
- U+1D1FᴟLATIN SMALL LETTER SIDEWAYS TURNED M
- U+1D39ᴹMODIFIER LETTER CAPITAL M
- U+1D50ᵐMODIFIER LETTER SMALL M
- U+1D5AᵚMODIFIER LETTER SMALL TURNED M
Some symbols related to M were used by the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902:^[9]
- U+2098ₘLATIN SUBSCRIPT SMALL LETTER M
- U+A7FAꟺLATIN LETTER SMALL CAPITAL TURNED M
TheTeuthonistaphonetic transcription system usesU+AB3AꬺLATIN SMALL LETTER M WITH CROSSED-TAIL^[10]
Other variations used for phonetic transcription:^[11]ᶆ ᶬ ᶭ
Ɯ ɯ:Turned M
ꟽ: Inverted M was used in ancient Roman texts to stand formulier(woman)^[12]
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')^[12]
ℳ: currency symbol forMark

Ancestors and siblings in other Alpha bets

𐤌:SemiticletterMem,from which the following symbols originally derive:
- Μ μ:GreekletterMu,from which M derives
  - Ⲙ ⲙ:Copticletter Me, which derives from Greek Mu
  - М м:CyrillicletterEm,also derived from Mu
  - 𐌌:Old ItalicM, which derives from Greek Mu, and is the ancestor of modern Latin M
    - ᛗ:RunicletterMannaz,which derives from old Italic M
  - 𐌼:Gothicletter manna, which derives from Greek Mu

Ligatures and abbreviations

Other representations

Computing

Character information
Preview	M		m		Ｍ		ｍ
Unicode name	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M		LATIN SMALL LETTER M		FULLWIDTH LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M		FULLWIDTH LATIN SMALL LETTER M
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	77	U+004D	109	U+006D	65325	U+FF2D	65357	U+FF4D
UTF-8	77	4D	109	6D	239 188 173	EF BC AD	239 189 141	EF BD 8D
Numeric character reference	M	M	m	m	Ｍ	Ｍ	ｍ	ｍ
EBCDICfamily	212	D4	148	94
ASCII^[a]	77	4D	109	6D

Other

NATO phonetic	Morse code
Mike	▄▄▄ ▄▄▄^ⓘ


Signal flag	Flag semaphore	American manual Alpha bet(ASL fingerspelling)	British manual Alpha bet(BSL fingerspelling)	Braille dots-134 Unified English Braille

Notes

^Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

References

^"M"Oxford English Dictionary,2nd edition (1989);Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged(1993); "em," op. cit.
^See F. Simons, "Proto-Sinaitic — Progenitor of the Alphabet"Rosetta9 (2011): Figure Two: "Representative selection of proto-Sinaitic characters with comparison to Egyptian hieroglyphs", (p. 38) Figure Three: "Chart of all early proto-Canaanite letters with comparison to proto-Sinaitic signs" (p. 39), Figure Four: "Representative selection of later proto-Canaanite letters with comparison to early proto-Canaanite and proto-Sinaitic signs" (p. 40). See also: Goldwasser (2010), following Albright (1966), "Schematic Table of Proto-Sinaitic Characters" (fig. 1 Archived2016-07-03 at theWayback Machine).
^Gordon, Arthur E. (1983).Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy.University of California Press.pp.45.ISBN 9780520038981.RetrievedOctober 3,2015.roman numerals.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e"What does M stand for?".The Free Dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on November 25, 2020.RetrievedFebruary 9,2021.
^^a ^b ^c ^d"M definition and meaning".Collins English Dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on February 27, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 9,2021.
^"MM (Millions)".corporatefinanceinstitute.corporate finance institute.Archivedfrom the original on August 5, 2024.RetrievedAugust 5,2024.
^Constable, Peter (September 30, 2003)."L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.
^Everson, Michael;et al. (March 20, 2002)."L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on February 19, 2018.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.
^Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (January 27, 2009)."L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.
^Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl; Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (June 2, 2011)."L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode" Teuthonista "phonetic characters in the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.
^Constable, Peter (April 19, 2004)."L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.
^^a ^bPerry, David J. (August 1, 2006)."L2/06-269: Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on June 14, 2019.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.

External links

Media related toMat Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition ofMat Wiktionary
The dictionary definition ofmat Wiktionary

[13] Also for encodings based on ASCII, including the DOS, Windows, ISO-8859 and Macintosh families of encodings.

[1] "M"Oxford English Dictionary,2nd edition (1989);Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged(1993); "em," op. cit.

[2] See F. Simons, "Proto-Sinaitic — Progenitor of the Alphabet"Rosetta9 (2011): Figure Two: "Representative selection of proto-Sinaitic characters with comparison to Egyptian hieroglyphs", (p. 38) Figure Three: "Chart of all early proto-Canaanite letters with comparison to proto-Sinaitic signs" (p. 39), Figure Four: "Representative selection of later proto-Canaanite letters with comparison to early proto-Canaanite and proto-Sinaitic signs" (p. 40). See also: Goldwasser (2010), following Albright (1966), "Schematic Table of Proto-Sinaitic Characters" (fig. 1 Archived2016-07-03 at theWayback Machine).

[3] Gordon, Arthur E. (1983).Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy.University of California Press.pp.45.ISBN 9780520038981.RetrievedOctober 3,2015.roman numerals.

[freedict-4] "What does M stand for?".The Free Dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on November 25, 2020.RetrievedFebruary 9,2021.

[collins-5] "M definition and meaning".Collins English Dictionary.Archivedfrom the original on February 27, 2021.RetrievedFebruary 9,2021.

[6] "MM (Millions)".corporatefinanceinstitute.corporate finance institute.Archivedfrom the original on August 5, 2024.RetrievedAugust 5,2024.

[7] Constable, Peter (September 30, 2003)."L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.

[8] Everson, Michael;et al. (March 20, 2002)."L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on February 19, 2018.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.

[9] Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (January 27, 2009)."L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.

[10] Everson, Michael; Dicklberger, Alois; Pentzlin, Karl; Wandl-Vogt, Eveline (June 2, 2011)."L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode" Teuthonista "phonetic characters in the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.

[11] Constable, Peter (April 19, 2004)."L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on October 11, 2017.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.

[L206269-12] Perry, David J. (August 1, 2006)."L2/06-269: Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS"(PDF).Archived(PDF)from the original on June 14, 2019.RetrievedMarch 24,2018.

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