nun
/nʌn/noun, pronoun
nun is spelled N-U-N: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Nun, the name). As a noun, nun means “A member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nun is nuns or nūns.
How many letters and syllables are in nun?
| Letters | 3: N-U-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.4 times per million words; the 12,216th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is nun?
Nun appears 4.4 times per million words in written English, the 12,216th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Nun, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce nun?
- /nʌn/
- /nʊn/
As a noun (“The fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets or abjads…”): /nʊn/, /nuːn/.
Nun has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-nun.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-nun_(oo).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with nun
Sounds like: none (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of nun
- nuns plural
- noon
- nūn
- nūns plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nun mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those living together in a cloister.
- 2
A member of a similar female community in other confessions.
a Buddhist nun
- 3
UKarchaicslangA prostitute.
- 4
A kind of pigeon with the feathers on its head like the hood of a nun.
- 5
The fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets or abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
noun
- 1
Alternative form of nun (“the fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets or abjads”).
pronoun
- 1
Pronunciation spelling of nothing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Nun in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | nonne, religieuse, bonne sœur, moniale, nonnain , noun |
| German | Nonne, Ordensschwester, Klosterschwester, Schwester |
| Portuguese | freira, religiosa, madre, monja |
| Spanish | monja, religiosa , nun |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does nun come from?
From Middle English nonne, nunne, from Old English nunne (“nun”), from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”), originally (along with masculine form nonnus (“man”)) a term of address for elderly persons, perhaps from children's speech, reminiscent of nana, like papa etc. Doublet of nonna.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).