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• nun
  nun

  noun

  a woman member of a religious order, especially one bound by vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
• nūn
  nūn

  noun

  the 25th letter of the Arabic alphabet.
• Nun
  Nun

  noun

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

nun

¹ American  

[nuhn] / nʌn /

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.

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nun ² American  

[noon, noon] / nun, nʊn /

noun

1. the 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

2. the consonant sound represented by this letter.

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nūn ³ American  

[noon] / nʊn /

noun

1. the 25th letter of the Arabic alphabet.

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Nun ⁴ American  

[noon] / nun /

Also Nu

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.

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nun ¹ British  

/ nʌn /

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

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nun ² British  

/ nʊn /

noun

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

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nun Cultural  

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

• nunlike
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of nun¹

before 900; Middle English, Old English nunne < Medieval Latin nonna, feminine of nonnus monk

Origin of nun²

First recorded in 1875–80, nun is from the Hebrew word nūn literally, fish

Origin of nūn³

From Arabic; see origin at nun ², nu ¹

Explanation

A nun is a woman who's dedicated her life to religious observance. Most nuns spend their time praying or meditating and doing service work in their communities. You may picture a Catholic nun when you hear the word nun, but there are nuns of other faiths as well, including Hindus, Lutherans, Jains, and Buddhists. Nuns serve the poor and hungry, sometimes running schools or orphanages, and they have in common a strict dedication to religion. Nun comes from the Old English nunne, and the Late Latin nonna, "nun," originally a generic word for addressing an older person.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nun Nun

“It’s difficult to maintain hope amid so much tragedy,” said a nun from Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity congregation, who was consoling survivors.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

A few days later, Rettig was settling into a furnished room at the Sacred Heart Residence in the Chelsea neighborhood as a nun showed her around.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

"Up until the 2000s you would see maybe a nun or a priest quietly outside the clinic, but since about 2013 we were seeing groups like 40 Days for Life protesting," she says.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026

She won the 1996 Best Actress Oscar for "Dead Man Walking", where she played a nun who supports a man sentenced to death.

From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026

There was a neater way to deal with potatoes, as he knew from his mother’s example, and given a sharp knife, Malcolm could have shown the good nun, but he held his peace.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman

Michael Chaves, who directed the spinoff “The Nun II” and “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” has mostly upheld these requirements, though his approach is more bombastic than Wan’s elegant style.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2025

"People ask why am I in Haiti?" says Nun.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2024

For the last month, Nun Neethoudjif Méléance has got used to a painful routine.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2024

“The Nun II” topped the domestic box office for the third straight weekend as Lionsgate’s “Expendables” franchise plummeted to an all-time low.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2023

Were the rumors true that he had walked on water against the Nacogdoches Dragons and had simply flown across the field like the Flying Nun against the Texarkana Tigers?

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

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