| Ipa Symbol: | m |
| Ipa Number: | 114 |
| Decimal: | 109 |
| Xsampa: | m |
| Braille: | 134 |
The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound which has been observed to occur in about 96% of spoken languages.[1] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|m), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. The bilabial nasal occurs in English, and it is the sound represented by "m" in map and rum. Very few languages (e.g. Wyandot) are known to lack this sound. A small number of languages have been observed to lack independent nasal phonemes altogether, such as Quileute, Makah, and Central Rotokas.
Features of the voiced bilabial nasal:
| IPA | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /m/ | plain m | |
| pronounced as /mʲ/ | palatalised | |
| pronounced as /mˠ/ | velarised | |
| pronounced as /mˤ/ | pharyngealized |
| Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| '''m''' | pronounced as /[m]/ | 'eat' | ||||
| Adyghe; Adygei: [[Cyrillic script|'''м'''азэ]] / Adyghe; Adygei: māză | pronounced as /[maːza]/ | 'moon' | ||||
| Arabic | Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|مطابخ]] / | pronounced as /[maˈtˤɑːbɪχ]/ | 'kitchens' | See Arabic phonology | ||
| Armenian | Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''մ'''այր]] / | 'mother' | ||||
| Assyrian | [[Syriac alphabet|ܡܪܐ]] / | pronounced as /[maːra]/] | 'owner' | |||
| Basque | Basque: [[Basque alphabet|'''m'''aitatu]] | pronounced as /[majt̪at̪u]/ | 'to love' | |||
| Bengali: [[Bengali alphabet|'''মা''']] / | pronounced as /[ma]/ | 'mother' | See Bengali phonology | |||
| Bulgarian | Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|'''м'''ъгла]] / Bulgarian: mygla | pronounced as /[mɐɡla]/ | 'fog' | |||
| Catalan | Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|'''m'''eu]] | pronounced as /[ˈmeʊ̯]/ | 'mine' | See Catalan phonology | ||
| Cherokee: [[Cherokee syllabary|Ꭰ'''Ꮉ''']] / | pronounced as /[ama˦]/ | 'water' | ||||
| Cantonese | 貓 / Chinese: [[Chinese Characters|猫]] / Chinese: [[Yale romanization of Cantonese|'''m'''āau]] | 'cat' | See Cantonese phonology | |||
| Chukchi | '''M'''анэгран | [maneɣɻan] | 'tent' | |||
| Chuvash: манăн / | 'my' | |||||
| Czech: [[Czech orthography|'''m'''už]] | 'man' | See Czech phonology | ||||
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|'''m'''ond]] | 'mouth' | See Dutch phonology | ||||
| Dhivehi | Divehi; Dhivehi; Maldivian: [[Thaana|'''m'''as]] | pronounced as /[mas̪]/ | 'fish' | See Dhivehi phonology | ||
| 'him' | See English phonology | |||||
| Esperanto: [[Esperanto orthography|te'''m'''po]] | 'time' | See Esperanto phonology | ||||
| Filipino; Pilipino: [[Filipino orthography|'''m'''anok]] | pronounced as /[maˈnok]/ | 'chicken' | See Filipino phonology | |||
| Finnish | Finnish: [[Finnish alphabet|'''m'''inä]] | 'I' | See Finnish phonology | |||
| French: [[French orthography|'''m'''anger]] | 'to eat' | See French phonology | ||||
| Georgian: [[Georgian alphabet|სა'''მ'''ი]] / | pronounced as /[ˈsɑmi]/ | 'three' | ||||
| German: [[German orthography|'''M'''aus]] | 'mouse' | See Standard German phonology | ||||
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|'''μ'''άζα]] / | 'clump' | See Modern Greek phonology | ||||
| Gujarati: [[Gujarati alphabet|'''મો'''ર]] / | pronounced as /[moːɾ]/ | 'male peacock' | See Gujarati phonology | |||
| Hawaiian | Hawaiian: [[Hawaiian alphabet|'''m'''aka]] | pronounced as /[maka]/ | 'eye' | See Hawaiian phonology | ||
| Hindi: [[Devanāgarī|'''म'''धु]] / | pronounced as /[məd̪ʱuː]/ | 'honey' | See Hindi-Urdu phonology | |||
| Hebrew: [[Hebrew alphabet|א'''מ'''א]] / | pronounced as /[ˈʔimäʔ]/ | 'mother' | See Modern Hebrew phonology | |||
| Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|'''m'''a]] | 'today' | See Hungarian phonology | ||||
| Indonesian | Indonesian: '''m'''asuk | pronounced as /[ˈmäsʊʔ]/ | 'enter' | |||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|'''m'''a'''mm'''a]] | 'mommy' | See Italian phonology | ||||
| 豆 / | pronounced as /[mäme̞]/ | 'bean' | See Japanese phonology | |||
| Kabardian: [[Cyrillic script|'''м'''азэ]] / | pronounced as /[maːza]/ | 'moon' | ||||
| '''m'''anang | pronounced as /[manaŋ]/ | 'older sister' | ||||
| Kazakh: [[Cyrillic script|ке'''м'''е]] / Kazakh: ke'''m'''e | pronounced as /[keme]/ | 'ship' | See Kazakh phonology | |||
| Central Khmer: [[Khmer script|ខ្មែរ]] / | pronounced as /[kʰmae]/ | 'Khmer' | See Khmer phonology | |||
| Korean: [[Hangul|마을]] / Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|'''m'''aûl]] | pronounced as /[mɐɯl]/ | 'village' | See Korean phonology | |||
| Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: '''m'''oer | pronounced as /[muːʁ]/ | 'carrot' | Common. Example from the Weert dialect. | |||
| Lithuanian: '''m'''ama | pronounced as /[ˈmɐmɐ]/ | 'mom' | ||||
| Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|'''м'''ајка]] / | pronounced as /[ˈmajka]/ | 'mother' | See Macedonian phonology | |||
| Malay: [[Malay alphabet|'''m'''ala'''m''']] | pronounced as /[mäläm]/ | 'night' | ||||
| Malayalam: [[Malayalam script|കമ്മി]] / | pronounced as /[kəmmi]/ | 'shortage' | ||||
| Maltese: il'''m'''a | pronounced as /[ilma]/ | 'water' | ||||
| Mandarin | [[Traditional Chinese characters|貓]] / [[Chinese Characters|猫]] / | 'cat' | See Mandarin phonology | |||
| Marathi: [[Devanāgarī|'''म'''न]] / | pronounced as /[mən]/ | 'mind' | See Marathi phonology | |||
| '''m'''uruṭ | pronounced as /[muɾuʈ]/ | 'night' | ||||
| Nepali: [[Devanāgarī|आ'''मा''']] / | pronounced as /[ämä]/ | 'mother' | See Nepali phonology | |||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|'''m'''a'''mm'''a]] | pronounced as /[ˈmɑmːɑ]/ | 'mom' | See Norwegian phonology | |||
| Ojibwa: [[Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics|'''ᐊ'''ᓈ'''ᒥ'''ᒻ]] / | pronounced as /[ənaːˈmɪm]/ | 'accuse' | See Ojibwe phonology | |||
| Oriya: [[Odia script|'''ମା''']] / | pronounced as /[mä]/ | 'mother' | ||||
| Persian: [[Perso-Arabic script|مادر]] / Persian: madär | pronounced as /[mɒdær]/ | 'mother' | See Persian phonology | |||
| '''b'''aíxi | pronounced as /[ˈmàí̯ʔì]/ | 'parent' | allophone of pronounced as //b// | |||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|'''m'''asa]] | 'mass' | See Polish phonology | ||||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|'''m'''ato]] | 'bush' | See Portuguese phonology | ||||
| Panjabi; Punjabi: [[Gurmukhi|ਮੈਂ]] / | pronounced as /[mɛ̃ː]/ | 'I' | ||||
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|'''м'''уж]] / | 'husband' | Contrasts with palatalized version. See Russian phonology | ||||
| Sanskrit | Sanskrit: [[Devanagari|अह'''म्''']] / | [əhəm] | 'I' | See Sanskrit phonology | ||
| [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|'''м'''ој]] / [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''m'''oj]] | pronounced as /[môːj]/ | 'my' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| Slovak: [[Slovak alphabet|'''m'''už]] | pronounced as /[mu̞ʂ]/ | 'man' | ||||
| Slovak: [[Slovene alphabet|'''m'''iš]] | pronounced as /[mîʃ]/ | 'mouse' | ||||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|gru'''m'''ete]] | pronounced as /[ɡɾuˈme̞te̞]/ | 'cabin boy' | See Spanish phonology | |||
| Swahili | Swahili: [[Latin script|'''m'''iti]] | pronounced as /[ˈmiti]/ | 'trees' | |||
| Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|'''m'''ask]] | pronounced as /[mask]/ | 'worm' | See Swedish phonology | |||
| Telugu: [[Telugu script|'''మ'''బ్బు/mabu]] | pronounced as /[mabːu]/ | 'cloud' | Occurs as allophone of anuswara when followed by retroflex stops | |||
| Thai | Thai: [[Thai script|'''ม'''อ'''ม'''แ'''มม''']] / | [mɔːm.mɛːm] | 'shabby' | See Thai phonology | ||
| '''m'''ani | [mani] | 'money' | ||||
| [[Cyrillic script|'''м'''ец]] / mec | pronounced as /[mɛ̝t͡s]/ | 'tongue' | ||||
| Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|beni'''m''']] | pronounced as /[be̞ˈn̟ɪm]/ | 'mine' | See Turkish phonology | |||
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|'''м'''олоко]] / | pronounced as /[mɔɫɔˈkɔ]/ | 'milk' | See Ukrainian phonology | |||
| Urdu: [[nasta'liq|مکان]]|rtl=yes / | pronounced as /[məkaːn]/ | 'house' | See Hindi-Urdu phonology | |||
| Uighur; Uyghur: [[Uyghur alphabet|مەن]] / | pronounced as /[mæn]/ | 'I' | ||||
| Uzbek | Uzbek: [[Uzbek alphabet|men]] | pronounced as /[men]/ | 'I' | |||
| Vietnamese: [[Vietnamese alphabet|'''m'''uối]] | pronounced as /[mwojˀ˧˥]/ | 'salt' | See Vietnamese phonology | |||
| Welsh: [[Welsh alphabet|'''m'''a'''m''']] | 'mother' | See Welsh phonology | ||||
| West Frisian | Western Frisian: '''m'''ar | pronounced as /[mar]/ | 'lake' | See West Frisian phonology | ||
| Sichuan Yi; Nuosu: [[Yi script|ꂷ]] / | pronounced as /[ma˧]/ | 'bamboo' | ||||
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | '''m'''an | pronounced as /[maŋ]/ | 'animal' | ||
| Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian: мя́сто/ | in Bulgarian pronounced as /mʲa̟sto/ | 'place' | Contrasts with pronounced as //m//. See Bulgarian phonology. | |||
| Irish: mé | in Irish pronounced as /mʲeː/ | 'I' | Contrasts with pronounced as //mˠ//. See Irish phonology. | |||
| ме̄рр/ | pronounced as /[mʲerː]/ | 'sea' | Kildin Saami contrasts varieties of bilabial nasals in voicedness, length and palatalization. | |||
| miļti | pronounced as /[mʲilʲtʲi]/ | 'flour' | Contrasts with pronounced as //m//. See Latgalian phonology. | |||
| Lithuanian: miglà | in Lithuanian pronounced as /mʲɪɡˈɫa/ | 'mist' | Contrasts with pronounced as //m//. See Lithuanian phonology | |||
| Marshallese: emān | pronounced as /[ɛmʲænʲ]/ | 'four' | Contrasts with pronounced as //mˠ//. | |||
| мяˮ/ | pronounced as /[mʲɑ]/ | 'tent' | Contrasts with pronounced as //m//. | |||
| Russian: медь/ | 'copper' | Contrasts with pronounced as //m//. See Russian phonology. | ||||
| nem' | pronounced as /[nemʲ]/ | 'peninsula' | Contrasts with pronounced as //m//. | |||
| Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilbertese: mwe | pronounced as /[mˠe]/ | 'sleep' | Contrasts with pronounced as //m// and pronounced as //mː//. | |||
| Irish: má | in Irish pronounced as /mˠɑː/ | 'if' | Contrasts with pronounced as //mʲ//. See Irish phonology. | |||
| Marshallese: m̧winam̧ōn | pronounced as /[mˠinʲɑmˠʌnʲ]/ | 'caterpillar' | Contrasts with pronounced as //mʲ//. | |||
pronounced as /navigation/