M Explained

M
Letter:	M m
Script:	Latin script
Type:	Alphabet
Typedesc:	ic and Logographic
Language:	Latin language
Unicode:	U+004D, U+006D
Alphanumber:	13
Number:	1000
Fam1:	N35
Fam6:	Μ μ
Usageperiod:	~−700 to present
Associates:	m(x)
Direction:	Left-to-right

M, or m, is the thirteenth letter of 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.^[1]

History

The letter M is derived from the Phoenician Mem via the Greek Mu (Μ, μ). Semitic Mem is most likely derived from a "Proto-Sinaitic" (Bronze Age) adoption of the "water" ideogram in Egyptian writing. The Egyptian sign had the acrophonic value pronounced as //n//, from the Egyptian word for "water", nt; the adoption as the Semitic letter for pronounced as //m// was presumably also on acrophonic grounds, from the Semitic word for "water", mā(y)-

.^[2]

Use in writing systems

Pronunciation of (m) by language! Orthography! Phonemes
(Pinyin)	pronounced as /link/
English	pronounced as /link/, silent
French	pronounced as /link/
German	pronounced as /link/
	pronounced as /link/, silent
Spanish	pronounced as /link/
Turkish	pronounced as /link/

English

In English, (m) represents the voiced bilabial nasal pronounced as //m//.

The Oxford English Dictionary (first edition) says that (m) is sometimes a vowel, such as in words like spasm and in the suffix -ism. In modern terminology, this is described as a syllabic consonant (IPA: pronounced as //m̩//).

M is the fourteenth most frequently used letter in the English language.

Other languages

The letter (m) represents the voiced bilabial nasal pronounced as //m// in the orthography of Latin as well as in those of many modern languages.

In Washo, lower-case (m) represents a voiced bilabial nasal pronounced as //m//, while upper-case (M) represents a voiceless bilabial nasal pronounced as //m̥//.

Other systems

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, (m) represents the voiced bilabial nasal pronounced as //m//.

Other uses

See main article: article and M (disambiguation).

The Roman numeral M represents the number 1000, though it was not used in Roman times. There is, however, scant evidence that the letter was later introduced in the early centuries A.D. by the Romans.^[3]
Unit prefix M (mega), meaning one million times, and m (milli) meaning one-thousandth.^[4] ^[5]
m is the standard abbreviation for metre (or meter) in the International System of Units (SI).^[4] However, m is also used as an abbreviation for mile.^[5]
M is used as the unit abbreviation for molarity.
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, an em dash is a punctuation symbol whose width is similar to that of a capital letter M.

Related characters

Descendants and related characters in the Latin alphabet

M with diacritics: Ḿ ḿ Ṁ ṁ Ṃ ṃ M̃ m̃ ᵯ^[7]
IPA-specific symbols related to M: pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/
Ɱ : Capital M with hook
Uralic Phonetic Alphabet-specific symbols related to M:^[8]
- - - - Some symbols related to M were used by the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902:^[9]
      - The Teuthonista phonetic transcription system uses ^[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 for mulier (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 for Mark

Ancestors and siblings in other alphabets

: Semitic letter Mem, from which the following symbols originally derive:
- Μ μ : Greek letter Mu, from which M derives
  - : Coptic letter Me, which derives from Greek Mu
  - М м : Cyrillic letter Em, also derived from Mu
  - : Old Italic M, which derives from Greek Mu, and is the ancestor of modern Latin M
    - : Runic letter Mannaz, which derives from old Italic M
  - : Gothic letter manna, which derives from Greek Mu

Ligatures and abbreviations

Other representations

Computing

Other

Notes and 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" Rosetta 9 (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).
Book: Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy . registration . roman numerals. . . 1983 . 3 October 2015 . Gordon, Arthur E. . 45. 9780520038981 .
Web site: What does M stand for? . . The Free Dictionary . 9 February 2021 . 25 November 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201125054852/https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/M . live .
Web site: M definition and meaning . . Collins English Dictionary . 9 February 2021 . 27 February 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210227212738/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/m_1 . live .
Web site: MM (Millions) . corporatefinanceinstitute.com . corporate finance institute. . 5 August 2024.
Web site: L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS. 2003-09-30. Peter. Constable. 2018-03-24. 2017-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20171011013938/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2003/03174r2-mid-tilde.pdf. live.
Web site: L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS. 2002-03-20. Michael. Everson. Michael Everson. etal. 2018-03-24. 2018-02-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20180219081033/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02141-n2419-uralic-phonetic.pdf. live.
Web site: L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet. 2009-01-27. Klaas. Ruppel. Tero. Aalto. Michael. Everson. 2018-03-24. 2017-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014359/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09028-n3571-upa-additions.pdf. live.
Web site: L2/11-202: Revised proposal to encode "Teuthonista" phonetic characters in the UCS. 2011-06-02. Michael. Everson. Alois. Dicklberger. Karl. Pentzlin. Eveline. Wandl-Vogt. 2018-03-24. 2017-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20171011012426/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11202-n4081-teuthonista.pdf. live.
Web site: L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS. 2004-04-19. Peter. Constable. 2018-03-24. 2017-10-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20171011014355/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2004/04132-n2740-phonetic.pdf. live.
Web site: L2/06-269: Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS. 2006-08-01. David J.. Perry. 2018-03-24. 2019-06-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20190614231608/http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2006/06269-add-roman.pdf. live.