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nun

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Pronunciation

nun1 woman in a religious order

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

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