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Nun

//nʌn// name, noun, pron, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A male given name from Hebrew. rare

    "And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses."

  2. 2
    The languages of the Bamun people of western Cameroon.
Noun
  1. 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.

    "Thus, when the nuns came to the mission and we saw that instead of murmuring soft blessings and gliding seraphically over the grass in diaphanous habits, they wore smart blouses and skirts and walked, laughed and talked in low twanging tones very much like our own American missionaries did, we were very disappointed."

  2. 2
    The fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets or abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
  3. 3
    the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet wordnet
  4. 4
    A member of a similar female community in other confessions. broadly

    "a Buddhist nun"

  5. 5
    a buoy resembling a cone wordnet
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A prostitute. British, archaic, slang

    "Why laſt night, as Colonel Kill'em, Sir William Weezy, Lord Frederick Foretop, and I were careleſsly ſliding the Ranelagh round, picking our teeth, after a damn'd muzzy dinner at Boodle's, who ſhould trip by but an abbeſs, well known about town, with a ſmart little nun in her ſuite."

  2. 7
    a woman religious wordnet
  3. 8
    A kind of pigeon with the feathers on its head like the hood of a nun.
Pronoun
  1. 1
    Pronunciation spelling of nothing. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from the letter’s name in the respective language. Doublet of nu.

Etymology 3

From Hebrew.

See also for "nun"

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