nun

noun

1. a woman member of a religious order, especially one bound by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
2. any of various birds, especially a domestic variety of pigeon.

noun

1. the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
2. the consonant sound represented by this letter.

noun

1. the 25th letter of the Arabic alphabet.

noun Egyptian Religion.

1. oldest of the ancient Egyptian gods, personifying the primordial ocean from which the world was formed; father of Ra, the sun god.

noun

1. a major channel of the Niger River, in W Africa.

noun

1. a female member of a religious order
2. (sometimes capital) a variety of domestic fancy pigeon usually having a black-and-white plumage with a ridged peak or cowl of short white feathers

noun

1. the 14th letter in the Hebrew alphabet (נ or, at the end of a word, ן), transliterated as n

n.

Old English nunne “nun, vestal, pagan priestess, woman devoted to religious life under vows,” from Late Latin nonna “nun, tutor,” originally (along with masc. nonnus) a term of address to elderly persons, perhaps from children’s speech, reminiscent of nana (cf. Sanskrit nona, Persian nana “mother,” Greek nanna “aunt,” Serbo-Croatian nena “mother,” Italian nonna, Welsh nain “grandmother;” see nanny).

A female member of a religious order, living in a convent, whose work is confined to the convent. The term is also applied broadly to other female members of religious orders (“sisters”) who often live outside their convents and work as teachers, nurses, social workers, or administrators.