nun
/nʌn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.64 in modern English
3
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
2
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
noun
A member of a similar female community in other confessions.
noun
The fourteenth letter of many Semitic alphabets or abjads (Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic and others).
pron
name
A male given name from Hebrew.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "a Buddhist nun"
- "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."
- ""I mean to inform you," answered the Oxonian, with a grin on his face, "that those three nymphs, who have so much dazzled your optics, are three nuns, and the plump female is Mother .... of great notoriety [...]""
- "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."
Etymology
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in People.