N — the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet

N is the fourteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. It represents an alveolar nasal consonant, has distinct uppercase/lowercase forms, and appears widely in language, science, and notation.

Overview

N is the fourteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet and a standard character in the English writing system and many other languages that use Latin script. It appears as an uppercase N and a lowercase n and is usually named "en" in English. As a consonant it is one of the most commonly used letters in alphabetic orthographies.

Form and sound

The letter represents a nasal consonant produced by closing the oral cavity and letting air pass through the nose — the alveolar nasal, commonly transcribed as /n/. In many languages and contexts its place of articulation may shift: before velar consonants like /k/ or /g/ it often assimilates to a velar nasal [ŋ] (as in English "sing"), while in clusters and unstressed syllables it can become syllabic (a syllable nucleus composed of n alone, as in some pronunciations of "button"). Uppercase and lowercase forms differ in shape but share the same basic stem and diagonal stroke in most typefaces.

History and development

The shape and name of N trace back through Greek and Phoenician scripts to an earlier Semitic letter often called nun. The Phoenician form evolved into Greek nu (Ν, ν), which in turn influenced the shape used in the Latin alphabet. Across centuries the glyph simplified and standardized into the forms familiar today in printed and handwritten type.

Common uses and examples

Language: denotes the alveolar nasal consonant in English words such as "nature," "nation," and "new," and appears in digraphs like ng.
Mathematics and statistics: the lowercase n is commonly used as a variable for integers or sample size; a capital bold or blackboard-bold ℕ denotes the set of natural numbers in formal contexts.
Science and engineering: N is the chemical symbol for nitrogen and the standard symbol for the SI unit newton (force) when used as an uppercase letter; lowercase n can represent amount of substance (in moles) or other quantities depending on discipline.
Computing and notation: the escape sequence \n denotes a newline in many programming languages and formats; Morse code for N is the two-signal sequence -.
Abbreviations: N often stands for "north" on maps and compasses and appears in many conventional short forms.

Typography, encoding, and notable facts

In digital encoding, the uppercase and lowercase letters are assigned standard code points: U+004E for 'N' and U+006E for 'n'. The letter has modest frequency in English and is visually similar to its neighbor M in some typefaces; careful kerning and stroke design distinguish them. For further linguistic and typographic details consult general references on alphabet history and phonetics via curated resources such as alphabet studies and language guides (more on ordering).