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nun

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Etymology and origin of the English word nun

Pronunciation

nun1 woman in a religious order

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
899 before 899, Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History
Borrowed from
Latin nonna via Middle English, Old English
Ultimate origin
Late Latin nonna
Etymology tree of nun1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin nonnus
Italian nonno
Latin nonna
Italian nonna
English nun

Etymology

The religious woman is inherited from Middle English nunne, later nonne,[2][3] inherited from Old English nunne,[4][5][6][3] borrowed from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”),[6][3][5] the feminine of nonnus (“monk”).[3][7][8] The Middle English form nonne was reinforced by Old French nonne, from the same Latin word.[2][9][10][3] The Latin words were at first terms of respect for elderly people,[6][3][11][10] and probably came from children's speech, like nanny.[6][3][11][12] The same Latin noun gave Old High German nunna and Old Norse nunna,[7][8][11] non and German Nonne,[7][8] and is related to Italian nonno (“grandfather”) and nonna (“grandmother”).[11][13] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster compare words for older female relatives in other languages, such as Welsh nain (“grandmother”).[6][14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A woman bound by religious vows in a convent: before 899, in Alfred's Old English translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History.[3][11][4] Old English also used it for a Roman vestal virgin or a pagan priestess, in the translation of Orosius.[11][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In early Middle English the word was spelled nunne, as in the Ancrene Riwle (probably before 1200), and later nonne (about 1300); nonne remained common through the 16th century,[3][2] and Chaucer used it six times.[15] The sense "pagan priestess" lasted until the 19th century.[11] From 1800 the word was also applied to women vowed to a religious life in other religions, such as Buddhism.[11][14] From the early 16th century nun was also used ironically for a courtesan or prostitute.[11][16] Several animals were named for markings that suggest the traditional nun's habit: the blue tit (1585), the smew (1666), a cowrie shell (1678), a breed of pigeon (1725) and the nun moth (1832).[11][17][18] The verb to nun, to shut up in a nunnery, is from 1753.[11][14] Johnson (1755) defined a nun as a woman secluded from the world in a cloister.[19]

Timeline

  • before 899 – a woman under religious vows.[3][11]
  • Old English – a vestal virgin, a pagan priestess (now obsolete).[11][4]
  • c. 1518 – a courtesan, a prostitute (obsolete by 1862); 1515 in Green's Dictionary of Slang.[11][16]
  • 1585 – the blue tit.[11]
  • 1725 – a variety of domestic pigeon.[11]
  • 1753 – verb, to shut up in a nunnery.[11]
  • 1800 – a woman devoted to religion outside Christianity.[11]
  • 1832 – the nun moth.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A woman who belongs to a religious order, usually under vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and often living in a convent.[18][14][11]
  2. A woman of a religion other than Christianity, such as Buddhism, who has devoted her life to it.[14][11]
  3. A variety of domestic pigeon with mostly white plumage and a dark or coloured head and tail.[18][11]
  4. (rare) The blue tit.[11][17]
  5. (obsolete) A priestess of a pagan god, such as a vestal virgin.[14][11]
  6. (obsolete, 1518–1862) A courtesan or prostitute.[11][16]

Verb

  1. To shut up in a nunnery, or as if in one.[14][11]

Word family

  • nunlike
  • nunhood
  • nunnery

nun2 Hebrew letter

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1567
Borrowed from
Biblical Hebrew
Ultimate origin
Biblical Hebrew

Etymology

The letter name is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew,[14][20][21] where it means “fish”, after the ancient form of the letter.[20] The American Heritage Dictionary takes the English word from Mishnaic Hebrew, and the Hebrew name from Phoenician.[9] The Greek letter nu has the same origin.[20]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet: about 1567, according to Merriam-Webster.[14] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1875–80.[21]

Timeline

  • c. 1567 – the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.[14][20]
  2. The corresponding letter of the Phoenician alphabet or of other Semitic alphabets.[14]

Word family

  • nunation
  • nunnation

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  5. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  15. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  17. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  18. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  19. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  20. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  21. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House

Related etymologies

  • Sabbath · also from Biblical Hebrew
  • shibboleth · also from Biblical Hebrew
  • schmooze · also from Biblical Hebrew
  • cherub · also from Biblical Hebrew
  • behemoth · also from Biblical Hebrew
  • jubilee · also from Biblical Hebrew
  • cabal · also from Biblical Hebrew
  • homer · also from Biblical Hebrew
Cite this entry

“Nun.” Etymologically, 26 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/nun. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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