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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

I was nuts about Pawlikowski’s 2013 “Ida,” about a young nun on a destructive road trip through her family’s history, and 2018’s “Cold War,” a tumultuous romance between two artists in a time of propaganda.

From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 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

One of my grandfather’s most repeated stories was about a nun who gave him a new school uniform because the other kids were making fun of how small and worn his old one was.

From Slate • Feb. 19, 2026

It’s a genuine calamity—there are deaths, as well as displacement of babies and the ill, including one nun recently diagnosed with tuberculosis but who had no choice but to continue caring for the kids.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025

For some reason—some reason that I cannot explain—my gaze slides to the little nun, whose face is buried in her mug at the end of the table.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

Related Words

• sister