Mem
/mɛm/noun
The thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, representing the sound /m/.
Did you know?Mem has two forms: an open form used normally and a closed final form used at the end of a word; in Jewish mystical tradition, its numerical value is 40, echoing periods of testing and transformation such as the Flood and Israel’s wilderness journey.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*may-
“Water; the ancestral root associated with the letter’s name”
Ancient Canaanite
Canaanite
𐤌
“The consonant /m/, represented by a water-related pictographic sign”
c. 1000 BCE
Paleo-Hebrew
𐤌
“Letter mem, /m/; descended from the West Semitic alphabetic tradition”
c. 300 BCE–100 CE
Aramaic/Hebrew
מ
“Mem in the square Hebrew script; the open form used within words”
Rabbinic Hebrew
Hebrew
מם
“The letter’s name, mem, associated with Hebrew mayim, “water””
Modern English
English
mem
“The Hebrew letter mem, used as an English loanword in discussions of Hebrew language, Judaism, and textual studies”