M facts for kids
Quick facts for kids M |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| M m | |||
| (See below) | |||
 |
|||
| Usage | |||
| Writing system | Latin script | ||
| Type | Alphabetic and Logographic | ||
| Language of origin | Latin language | ||
| Phonetic usage | [] [] [] [] |
||
| Unicode value | U+004D, U+006D |
||
| Alphabetical position | 13 Numerical value: 1000 |
||
| History | |||
| Development |
|
||
| Time period | ~-700 to present | ||
| Descendants | • ₥ • ™ • ℠ • ᴟ • ꬺ • ꟽ ɯ ɰ • ꟿ • ᛗ |
||
| Sisters | М Ӎ מ ם م ܡ מּ ﬦ  Ⰿ ࠌ 𐌼 |
||
| Variations | (See below) | ||
| Other | |||
| Other letters commonly used with | m(x) | ||
| Associated numbers | 1000 | ||
 |
| ISO basic Latin alphabet |
|---|
| AaBbCcDdEeFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOoPpQqRrSsTtUuVvWwXxYyZz |
M, or m, is the thirteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is em (pronounced), plural ems.
History
| Egyptian hieroglyph "n" | Phoenician Mem |
Etruscan M | Greek Mu |
Latin M |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu (Μ, μ).
Meanings for M
- In calendars, M sometimes means Monday or means one of the months "March" or "May".
- In money, M means million, such as $25M (twenty-five million dollars).
- m is the standard abbreviation for metre (or meter) in the International System of Units (SI). However, m is also used as an abbreviation for mile.
- In Roman numerals, M means one thousand.
- M is also the name of a 1930 German movie made by Fritz Lang and its 1951 remake.
Use in writing systems
The letter ⟨m⟩ represents the bilabial nasal consonant sound 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).
In Washo, lower-case ⟨m⟩ represents a typical em sound, while upper-case ⟨M⟩ represents a voiceless em sound.
Other uses
- Unit prefix M (mega), meaning one million times, and m (milli) meaning one-thousandth.
- M is used as the unit abbreviation for molarity.
- M often represents male or masculine, especially in conjunction with F for female or feminine.
- M (James Bond) is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond book and film series.
- In typography, an em dash is a punctuation symbol whose width is equal to that of a capital letter M.
See also
In Spanish: M para niños
