Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Nun |
NunNoun1. A woman religious. 2. A buoy resembling a cone. 3. The 14th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
"Nun" is a name that signifies or is derived from: "same as Non". |
Date "nun" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
Etymology: Nun \Nun\, noun. [from Old English expression nunne, Anglo-Saxon nunne, from the Latin expression nonna nun, nonnus monk; compare to Greek, of unknown origin. Compare to Nunnery.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Nun Beyond the fact that he was the father of Joshua nothing more is known of him (Ex. 33:11). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A nun is a woman who takes monastic vows, typically of chastity, poverty and/or obedience.
Nuns are members in orders of different Christian traditions (Roman Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox), and in Buddhist traditions.
Historically a nun wears a habit specific to her order, a uniform significantly different from the normal clothing of the women in her culture. This practice has greatly diminished in modern times. Buddhist nuns also shave their heads.
The nun who is elevated to manage and operate the nunnery or convent where the nuns live communally may be called an abbess or Mother Superior, and the head of multiple convents of the same order is known as the Superior General.
Nuns do various kinds of work, nursing the sick, teaching children, looking after the poor, and in many cases simply withdrawing from the world to pray or meditate.
See also:
- The Sound of Music
- The Singing Nun
In biology, Nun is a genus of the hillstream loach, a type of small freshwater fish.
In Egyptian mythology, Nun is an alternate spelling for Nu.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Nun."
Synonyms: NunSynonyms: conical buoy (n), nun buoy (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Celibacy | Unmarried woman, spinster; maid, maiden;virgin, feme sole, old maid; bachelor girl, girl-bachelor; nun. |
Clergy | Abbess, prioress, canoness; religieuse, nun, novice, postulant. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Nun |
| English words defined with "nun": Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu ♦ Benedictine, Bonze ♦ cell, Clare, Cloistress, cubicle ♦ Mother Teresa, Mother Theresa, Mynchen ♦ Nonne, Nunnish ♦ Religieux ♦ sister ♦ Teresa, Theresa, To take the veil ♦ Unnun. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "nun": COVENT GARDEN NUN ♦ Minch-house ♦ NOSE GENT, Nuns ♦ Overy ♦ Sacred Heart. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "nun": Nunnery. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Nun" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Albanian (best man, bridesman, godfather), Esperanto (at present, now), Galician (at a), German (at present, come on, now, only, then, well, well then), Latin (nun). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I don't think a nun would say that about a hill (Moulin Rouge!; writing credit: Baz Luhrmann; Craig Pearce) Attention, passengers, we are now leaving Nun Central on our journey to Hell and beyond (Bachelor Party; writing credit: Bob Israel; Neal Israel) Nun soup (Short Circuit; writing credit: Brent Maddock; S.S. Wilson) Oh, but I met a nun and she let me try on her wimple (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) No, Jack, Nun. (Father Ted; writing credit: Graham Linehan; Arthur Mathews) | |
Lyrics | Sunday morning creep in like a nun. (Lady Madonna; performing artist: The Beatles) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Weekend Nun (1972) Take One Scene Nun (1964) The Nun and the Sergeant (1962) Herr Kunze Von nun ab (1956) Nun hat's geschnappt (1922) | |
Song Titles | Dominique (performing artist: The Singing Nun) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | [Dominican nun dispensing medicine]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Zu den Toten der Bewegung gehören nun auch die Opfer dieses ruchlosen Anschlages ... Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Altarpiece showing Christ appearing before a nun, with religious building in background. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Portraits. Portrait of nun. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
John Milton | Come, pensive nun, devout and pure, sober steadfast, and demure, all in a robe of darkest grain, flowing with majestic train. |
Rabelais | A woman that is neither fair nor good, to what use serves she? To make a nun of, said Gargantua. Yea, said the monk, to make shirts and smocks. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | The nun was the odalisque, the priest was the eunuch |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Children | India | On June 30, a Calcutta court fined a nun of the Missionaries of Charity $20 (1,000 Rs) for branding a 12-year-old girl with a hot knife in September 2000. The nun had branded the girl because she stole bread. (references) |
Civil Liberties | Burundi | In 2000 there were reports that unidentified attackers killed an Italian nun in Gitega. (references) |
Saint Lucia | They killed a nun, doused the priest with gasoline and set him on fire, and wounded 12 other persons. (references) | |
Human Rights | Burundi | No suspects were identified by year's end for several hand grenade attacks in 2000. No suspect was identified by year's end for the October 2000 murder of an Italian nun in Gitega. (references) |
Colombia | Paramilitary groups continued to kill political leaders and peace activists, including Ismael Valencia, the former mayor of Calima Darien, Valle del Cauca department; and nun and human rights activist Yolanda Ceron in Tumaco, Narino department. (references) | |
Rwanda | On June 8, a jury in Belgium convicted a physics professor, a former government minister, and two nuns of complicity in the killings of approximately 7,000 Tutsis in and around the town of Sovu in 1994. The professor and one of the nuns were sentenced to 12 years in prison, the other nun was sentenced to 15 years, and the minister was sentenced to 20 years. (references) | |
Minorities | India | Also in January, according to HRW, a nun was killed in Tamil Nadu. (references) |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | On May 28, a Muslim woman walking with her husband and children physically and verbally assaulted a Catholic nun in central Sarajevo. (references) | |
Pakistan | On March 12, men broke into the Lourdes Convent and attacked Sister Christine, a 78-year-old nun; she died in a nearby hospital a few days later. (references) | |
Worker Rights | China | Ngawang Lochoe (also known as Dondrub Drolma), a 28-year-old nun at Sandrup Dolma Lhakang temple, reportedly died in February after serving 9 years of a 10-year sentence for participating in "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement". (references) |
China | She is scheduled to be released in 2005. Nun Ngawang Sangdrol, who was imprisoned at age 13, released 9 months later and resentenced at age 15, also reportedly was beaten severely on multiple occasions and held in solitary confinement for an extended period. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Nun" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 97.75% of the time. "Nun" is used about 445 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 97.75% | 435 | 13,223 |
| Noun (proper) | 2.25% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Total | 100.00% | 445 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "nun": become a nun ♦ Capuchin nun ♦ carmelite nun ♦ nun buoy ♦ nun moth ♦ white nun. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "nun": nun-arbitrary, nun-bird, nun-cum-critic-cum-tv-star, nun-drama, nun-like, nun-sense. | |
Ending with "nun": bar-nun, ex-nun, singing-nun. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
nun | 1,237 | xxx nun | 33 |
sex and nun | 243 | erotic nun | 30 |
nude nun | 134 | joke nun | 23 |
naked nun | 120 | hardcore nun | 22 |
sexy nun | 113 | cloistered nun | 22 |
naughty nun | 101 | nun costume | 21 |
nun porn | 91 | nun having sex | 20 |
nun on the run | 89 | nun photo | 19 |
nun picture | 74 | become nun | 19 |
flying nun | 62 | clare nun poor | 18 |
habit nun | 55 | a new england nun | 16 |
lesbian nun | 50 | hentai nun | 16 |
catholic nun | 49 | nun story | 16 |
singing nun | 48 | nun doll | 16 |
carmelite nun | 41 | hotel monkton nun | 16 |
nasty nun | 39 | hot nun | 16 |
attire nun | 38 | nun tgp | 16 |
horny nun | 38 | nun pic | 15 |
fetish nun | 34 | grey hospital nun | 15 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "nun"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | murgeshë (conventual, vestal, votaress), galë moçale. (various references) | |
Arabic | راهبة (lay sister, nun's, religious, sister, vestal). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | калугерка (sister), вид американски кълвач, вид патица, монахиня (cloistress, vestal, votaress), забулен гълъб, блатен синигер. (various references) | |
Chinese | 尼姑 . (various references) | |
Czech | jeptiška, řádová sestra. (various references) | |
Danish | nonne (black-arched moth, night moth, nun moth). (various references) | |
Dutch | non, kloosterzuster. (various references) | |
Esperanto | monaĥino. (various references) | |
Farsi | زن تارک دنیا, راهبه (Religious). (various references) | |
Finnish | nunna. (various references) | |
French | nonne (nun moth), religieuse, bonne s"ur. (various references) | |
German | Nonne (concave tile, nun moth), Klosterfrau, Blaumeise (bluetit). (various references) | |
Greek | καλόγρια (sister), μοναχή (vestal). (various references) | |
Hebrew | זיר" (sister). (various references) | |
Hungarian | apáca (cloistress, religious). (various references) | |
Indonesian | ruhbanat, biksuni, biarawati. (various references) | |
Irish | bean rialta. (various references) | |
Italian | monaca (black-arched moth, night moth, nun moth). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 童貞 (chastity, male virgin), 尼法師 , 尼 (bitch), 修"尼 , 修"女 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しゅうどうに, しゅうどうじょ, どうてい (chastity, distance, identification, itinerary, journey, male virgin, process), あまほうし, あま (amah, bitch, fisherman, flax, hemp, linen, maid, woman shell diver). (various references) | |
Korean | 수녀 (nuns). (various references) | |
Manx | cailliagh ghoo, ben reillt, ben austeyr. (various references) | |
Papiamen | sùr. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | unnay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | freira (cloistress, mother, religious, sister). (various references) | |
Romanian | cãlugãriţã (praying mantis). (various references) | |
Russian | монахиня (cloistress, votaress). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | senica (alcove, arbor, bower, ox-eye, titmouse, tomtit), kaluđerica (cloistress, sister, vestal, votaress). (various references) | |
Spanish | monja (cloistress, conventual, sister). (various references) | |
Swahili | sista. (various references) | |
Swedish | nunna (cloistress). (various references) | |
Thai | นางชี. (various references) | |
Turkish | rahibe (priestess, sister, vestal), rahíbe. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | черниця (conventual, sister), монахиня, болотяна галка. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | nữ tu sĩ (cloistress, conventual), b xơ. (various references) | |
Welsh | lleian. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Sumerian | 3100 BCE-2500 BCE | lukur. (various references) |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | sanctimonialis. (various references) |
| Late Latin | 300-700 | nonna. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 31, Verse 23 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | PeribleptoV de ginetai en pulaiV o anhr authV hnika an kaqish en sunedriw meta twn gerontwn katoikwn thV ghV |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Nun nobilis in portis vir eius quando sederit cum senatoribus terrae |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Num. Noble in the yates the man of hir, whan he shal sitte with the senatoures of the erthe. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Her husband is a man of note in the public place, when he takes his seat among the responsible men of the land. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 31, Verse 23 |
| Cebuano | Ang iyang bana inila diha sa mga ganghaan, Sa diha nga siya molingkod uban sa mga anciano sa yuta. |
| Chinese | 他 丈 夫 在 城 門 口 與 本 地 的 長 老 同 坐 、 為 眾 人 所 認 識 。 |
| Croatian | Muž joj je slavan na Vratima, gdje sjedi sa starješinama zemaljskim. |
| Danish | Hendes Husbond er kendt i Portene, når han sidder blandt Landets Ældste. |
| Dutch | Nun. Haar man is bekend in de poorten, als hij zit met de oudsten des lands. |
| Finnish | Hänen miehensä on tunnettu porteissa, maanvanhinten seassa istuessansa. |
| French | Son mari est considéré aux portes, Lorsqu`il siège avec les anciens du pays. |
| German | Ihr Mann ist bekannt in den Toren, wenn er sitzt bei den Ältesten des Landes. |
| Haitian Creole | Mari l', se yonn nan chèf fanmi lavil la. Tout moun lavil la ap nonmen non l' an byen. |
| Hungarian | Ismerik az õ férjét a kapukban, mikor ül a tartománynak véneivel. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Suaminya adalah orang ternama--salah seorang dari antara para pemimpin kota. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka lakinya dikenal orang dalam pintu gerbang, apabila ia duduk serta dengan segala tua-tua negeri. |
| Italian | Suo marito è stimato alle porte della citt dove siede con gli anziani del paese. |
| Korean | 그 남 편 은 그 땅 의 장 로 로 " 불 어 성 문 에 앉 으 며 사 람 의 아 " " 가 되 며 |
| Maori | E mohiotia ana tana tane i nga kuwaha, ina noho tahi ia ki nga kaumatua o te whenua. |
| Norwegian | Hennes mann er kjent i byens porter, der han sitter sammen med landets eldste. |
| Portuguese | Nune. Conhece-se o seu marido nas portas, quando se assenta entre os anciãos da terra. |
| Rumanian | Bqrbatul ei este bine vqzut la poryi, cknd wade cu bqtrknii yqrii. |
| Russian | нХЦ ЕЕ ЙЪЧЕУФЕО Х ЧПТПФ, ЛПЗ"Б УЙ"ЙФ УП УФБТЕКЫЙОБНЙ ЪЕНМЙ. |
| Spanish | Es conocido su marido en las puertas de la ciudad, cuando se sienta con los ancianos del país. |
| Swedish | Hennes man är känd i stadens portar, där han sitter bland landets äldste. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "nun": nunatak, nunataks, nunchaku, nunchakus, nunciature, nunciatures, nuncio, nuncios, nuncle, nuncles, nuncupative, nunlike, nunneries, nunnery, nunnish, nuns. (additional references) | |
Words containing "nun": annunciate, annunciated, annunciates, annunciating, annunciation, annunciations, annunciator, annunciators, annunciatory, conundrum, conundrums, denunciation, denunciations, denunciative, denunciatory, enunciable, enunciate, enunciated, enunciates, enunciating, enunciation, enunciations, enunciator, enunciators, internuncial, internuncio, internuncios, inunction, inunctions, inundant, inundate, inundated, inundates, inundating, inundation, inundations, inundator, inundators, inundatory, mispronunciation, mispronunciations, nonunanimous, nonuniform, nonuniformities, nonuniformity, nonunion, nonunionized, nonunions, nonunique, nonuniqueness, nonuniquenesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Nun" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: enun, nann, nau, Naum, naun, navn, Ncni, nedn, nen, neny, neuen, Neun, Ngum, nguni, nhu, Nhuong, nign, Ninn, Niu, niun, nn, nnn, Nnuh, noan, noin, nonl, npn, nru, Ntui, nu, nuan, Nuang, Nuc, nud, nue, nuf, nug, nuh, nui, nuin, nuj, Nuk, nunc, nund, nune, nung, nuni, nunne, nuno, nunu, nuo, nuq, nurn, nus, Nuu, nuun, nuv, nuw, nux, nuy, nuz, nvu, nyn, nyu, nyuk, Nyum, nyundo, Nyup, unkn, unn, unna, Vnup. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "nun" (pronounced nu"n) |
| 3 | n u" n | none. |
| 2 | -u" n | begun, bun, Bunn, bunt, done, Donne, dun, fun, gun, Hun, Jun, mun, one, outdone, outrun, overdone, pun, redone, rerun, run, shun, son, spun, stun, sun, ton, tonne, Un, undone, won. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "n-n-u" | |
-1 letter: nu, un. | |
| Words containing the letters "n-n-u" | |
+1 letter: bunn, noun, nuns, sunn. | |
+2 letters: annul, bunns, bunny, ennui, funny, gunny, inurn, nouns, numen, punny, runny, sunna, sunns, sunny, tunny, unban, union, unman, unpen, unpin, unwon. | |
+3 letters: adnoun, annual, annuli, annuls, anuran, bunion, cunner, duenna, dunlin, dunned, dunner, ennuis, ennuye, funned, funnel, funner, guanin, guenon, gunman, gunmen, gunned, gunnel, gunnen, gunner, inturn, inulin, inurns, lungan, muntin, neuron, nonuse, nounal, nuance, nubbin, nudnik, nuking, numina, nuncio, nuncle, nutant, punkin, punned, punner, punnet, quinin, runnel, runner, sannup, sunken, sunnah, sunnas, sunned, suntan, tuning, tunned, tunnel, turnon, unakin, unbans, unbend, unbent, unbind, unborn, uncini, undine, undone, uneven, unfond, unhand, unhang, unhewn, unhung, unions, unison, unkend, unkent, unkind, unkink, unknit, unknot, unlink, unmans, unmown, unnail, unopen, unpens, unpent, unpins, unrent, unsawn, unseen, unsent, unsewn, unsnap, unsown, unspun, unsung, unsunk, untorn, untune, unwind, unworn, wangun. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Bible Trace | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
