M, or m, is the thirteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is em (pronounced / ˈ ɛ m/), plural ems. [1] History Egyptian hieroglyph "n" m is the standard abbreviation for metre (or meter) in the International System of Units (SI). [4] However, m is also used as an abbreviation for mile. [5] Constable, Peter (2003-09-30). "L2/03-174R2: Proposal to Encode Phonetic Symbols with Middle Tilde in the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11 . Retrieved 2018-03-24.

Figure Two: "Representative selection of proto-Sinaitic characters with comparison to Egyptian hieroglyphs", (p. 38) a b c d "M definition and meaning". Collins English Dictionary. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021 . Retrieved 9 February 2021. The Roman numeral M represents the number 1000, though it was not used in Roman times. There is, however, scant evidence that the letter was later introduced in the early centuries A.D. by the Romans. [3] In typography, an em dash is a punctuation symbol whose width is equal to that of a capital letter M.a b Perry, David J. (2006-08-01). "L2/06-269: Proposal to Add Additional Ancient Roman Characters to UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-06-14 . Retrieved 2018-03-24. Everson, Michael; etal. (2002-03-20). "L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-02-19 . Retrieved 2018-03-24. Ruppel, Klaas; Aalto, Tero; Everson, Michael (2009-01-27). "L2/09-028: Proposal to encode additional characters for the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11 . Retrieved 2018-03-24. Some symbols related to M were used by the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet prior to its formal standardization in 1902: [8]

Constable, Peter (2004-04-19). "L2/04-132 Proposal to add additional phonetic characters to the UCS" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-10-11 . Retrieved 2018-03-24. The letter ⟨m⟩ represents the bilabial nasal consonant sound [ m] in the orthography of Latin as well as in that of many modern languages, and also in the International Phonetic Alphabet. In English, the Oxford English Dictionary (first edition) says that ⟨m⟩ is sometimes a vowel, in words like spasm and in the suffix -ism. In modern terminology, this is described as a syllabic consonant (IPA [m̩]). M is the fourteenth most frequently used letter in the English language.

M" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989); Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (1993); "em," op. cit.