M
/ɛm/noun
The thirteenth letter of the English alphabet, representing the consonant sound /m/.
Did you know?The Semitic name mem, meaning “water,” is traditionally linked to an Egyptian water-sign ancestor, though the exact pictorial development remains debated by scholars.
Etymological Timeline
Early 2nd millennium BCE
Egyptian/Proto-Sinaitic
𓈖-like water sign
“A pictorial sign associated with water; its precise connection to the later letter M is scholarly reconstruction, not certainty.”
c. 1000 BCE
Phoenician
𐤌 mem
“The consonant /m/, named mem, meaning “water.””
c. 8th century BCE
Ancient Greek
Μ mu
“The Greek letter mu, adapted from Phoenician mem and representing /m/.”
7th–1st centuries BCE
Etruscan/Latin
M
“The letter M, inherited through the Italic alphabet from Greek and ultimately Phoenician.”
Old English
English
m
“The Latin letter used in the Old English writing system to represent /m/.”
Modern English
English
M
“The thirteenth letter of the modern English alphabet.”