| Mem | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phoenician | Hebrew | Aramaic | Syriac | Arabic |
| מ,ם | ܡܡ | م,م | ||
| Alphabetic derivatives |
Greek | Latin | Cyrillic | |
| Μ | M | М | ||
| Phonemic representation: | m | |||
| Position in alphabet: | 13 | |||
| Numerical (Gematria/Abjad) value: | 40 | |||
Mem (also spelled Meem or Mim) is the thirteenth letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew מ and Arabic mīm م. Its value is [m].
The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Mu (Μ), Etruscan 𐌌, Latin M, and Cyrillic М.
Contents |
| Semitic alphabets |
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| Phoenician (c.1050 – 200 BCE) |
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| Hebrew (400 BCE – present) |
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History · Transliteration |
| Syriac (200 BCE – present) |
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| Arabic (400 CE – present) |
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History · Transliteration |
Mem is usually assumed to come from the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol for water () which had been simplified by the Phoenicians and named after their word for water, mem (), ultimately coming from Proto-Semitic *maʾ-/*may-.
| Orthographic variants | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various Print Fonts | Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi Script |
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| Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | ||
| מ | מ | מ | ||
Hebrew spelling: מֵם
Mem represents [m].
| Orthographic variants | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various Print Fonts | Cursive Hebrew |
Rashi Script |
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| Serif | Sans-serif | Monospaced | ||
| ם | ם | ם | ||
In Hebrew, Mem, like Kaph, Nun, Pe, and Tzadi, has a final form, used at the end of words. Its shape changes from מ to ם. The pronunciation is not changed.
In gematria, Mem represents the number 40. Its final form represents 600 but this is rarely used, Tav and Resh (400+200) being used instead.
In the Sefer Yetzirah, the letter Mem is King over Water, Formed Earth in the Universe, Cold in the Year, and the Belly in the Soul.
As an abbreviation, it stands for metre. In the Israeli army it can also stand for mefaked, commander. In Hebrew religious texts, it can stand for the name of God Makom, the Place.
Mem is associated with The Hanged Man (Atu XII), the element of water and the path between Geburah and Hod on the Tree of Life.
The letter is named mīm, and is written in several ways depending on its position in the word:
| Position in word: | Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form of letter: | م | ـم | ـمـ | مـ |
Some examples on its uses in Modern Standard Arabic:
Mīm is used in the creation of ism words (i.e. nouns and adjectives; they are treated fundamentally the same in Arabic grammar). Specifically, mīm is used in the creation of the masdar (verbal noun) of Stem III verbs (the masdar of verbs on the pattern fā`ala is mufā`ala), of subject and object nouns for verbs of Stems II-X (using the example of Stem II, subject nouns — called fā`il words because of their form in Stem I — are mufa``il, and object nouns — called maf`ūl also because of their Stem I form — take the form mufa``al). Place-nouns are also created with mīm; the pattern maf`al is used to create maktab "office" from the triliteral k-t-b (to write) and maṣna` "factory" from ṣ-n-` (to make).
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