N (letter)

For other uses, see N (disambiguation).

N is the fourteenth letter of the English alphabet. Its name can be written en, as in en dash.

Use in English

N is pronounced in the position of t (as in tén) and d (as in dòes) tongue behind upper teeth, hummed. Examples (the accents show stress and pronunciation: see English phonemes): nòne, noôn, nåughty, nîce, nô, nót, Nétherlands, níl, nought, nòthing, any (pronounced *énny), sâne, pâne window = pâin hurt, nāsty.

It may be preceded by a silent k at the beginning of a word: knôw, knót, knéll, knóll, knîfe, knêad dough (= nêed require) or, initially or towards the end, by a silent g: gnát, gnôme, gnû, rèign, sîgn, desîgn, colôgne, dèign.

It is doubled in the middle of words to keep the preceding vowel short: fúnny (cf. fún) ínner, wínning, dínner, Ánnie, Kénnedy, mánned, bánned. And also after the prefix un- - and here both n’s must be pronounced, that is to say, the n sound is lengthened: unnátural, unnécessary, unnêeded; and with a silent k in unknôwn.

n begins consonant clusters: áncestor (-ns-), cóncrête (-ngk-), lúnch, ánchor (-nk-), úncle, énd, hándle, Ándrew, infŏrm, ínflâte, ínfra-réd, éngine, engâge, inhérent, thínk, ánkle, insîde, mónster, ínstrúct, bént, mántle, éntry, énvelope, jínx (-ks), ánxious (-nksh), anxîety (-ngz-), énzyme.

Silent n comes at the end of åutumn, hýmn, cólumn, dámn, condémn, sólemn.

Ng has its own sound, a hum in the back of the throat: síng, wíng, sínging, sóng, ríng, wróng, díng-dóng, báng. In this final position, the g is never pronounced separately (apart from in some English regional pronunciations) and this is true before a vowel in the middle of some words: sínger, wínger, wrónged, bánging, and in dínghy boat (díng- + silent h, + -ŷ, with or without hard g) it is followed by an h to distinguish it from díngy dirty, which has the j sound, as does dúngeon, *dúnjən. But the g is pronounced (not as a j) separately in the middle of other words: fínger (*fíng-gə), English (*Íng-glish), ánger (BrE *áng-gə, AmE *áng-gr), ángry (*áng-gry).

This ng sound is also heard where n is followed by c, k, or x: úncle, ánkle, ánchor (*ángkə, cf. ánchovy, nch as -ntch-), ánxious, sínk, thínk, tánk, wínkle, ínkling, tínkle, ráncour.