M

M is the thirteenth letter of the Latin alphabet.

History

The letter M represents the bilabial nasal consonant sound [m] in Classical languages as well as the modern languages. It derives its shape from the Greek Μ or μ. Semitic Mem originally pictured water, in all probability.

The Oxford English Dictionary (first edition) says that 'm' is sometimes a vowel in words like spasm and in the suffix -ism.

Alternate representations

Mike represents the letter M in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

In international Morse code the letter M is DahDah: - -

In Braille the letter M is represented as ⠍ (in Unicode), the dot pattern:

XX
..
X.

Computing

In Unicode the capital M is codepoint U+004D and the lowercase m is U+006D.

The ASCII code for capital M is 77 and for lowercase m is 109; or in binary 01001101 and 01101101, correspondingly.

The EBCDIC code for capital M is 212 and for lowercase m is 148.

The numeric character references in HTML and XML are "M" and "m" for upper and lower case respectively.

Meanings for M

In archeology, M is an abbreviation for "Authentic Matthew"

In astronomy, M is an abbreviation for "Messier" in designations for the Messier Deepsky Objects.

In biochemistry, M is the symbol for methionine.

In calendars, M is often an abbreviation for Monday or for one of the months "March" or "May".

In chemistry,

- M is the symbol for molarity (M) of solutions.

- m is the symbol for molality (m) of solutions.

In the CMYK color model, M stands for the color magenta.

In comic books, M is the name of a member of "Generation X", a team of younger

mutants affiliated with and coached by some of the former "X-Men".

In computing,
- M is a binary prefix meaning 2²⁰ = 1,048,576 (cf. M as a Metric prefix below).
- M is another name for the computer programming language MUMPS.
In common references to currency, M or m denotes million or millions, such as $25M (twenty-five million dollars).
In traditional accounting practice, M designates thousand or thousands, and MM is used for million. Hence such traditional abbreviations as CPM for cost per thousand items of a retail good, or MCF for thousand cubic feet of (e.g.) natural gas.
In film,
- M is the name of a film from 1931 directed by Fritz Lang about a serial killer who preys on children; see M (1931 movie).
- M is the name of a lesser-known film from 1951; see M (1951 movie).
- In the James Bond books and films, M is the codename of the head of MI6; see M (James Bond).
In international licence plate codes, M stands for Malta.
In mathematics, m is used to denote slope in slope-intercept form. An M-set is the opposite of a set of uniqueness.
In the Metric system,
- M, mega, is an SI prefix denoting 10⁶ = 1,000,000 (one million) (cf. M in computing above)
- m, milli, an SI prefix meaning 1/1000.
- m denotes metre (or meter), the SI base unit for length.
In music,
- M is the assumed name of the artist Robin Scott, who performed the 1979 #1 hit song "Pop Muzik".
- -M- is the artist name of the French singer Matthieu Chédid.
- "M" is the pseudonym for a Jazz vocalist hired by Yoko Kanno (see M (singer))
In physics, M-theory is a proposed solution for problems in superstring theories.
As the first letter of a postal code,
- In Canada, M stands for the Metropolitan Toronto area.
- In the United Kingdom, M stands for Manchester.
In radiocommunication, M is one of the ITU prefixes allocated to the United Kingdom.
In Roman numerals, M denotes one thousand, from mille in Latin.
In video games,
- M is the ESRB rating symbol for Mature.
- M is the abbreviation for Mario, a Nintendo character.
- The name of a glitch Pokémon, called 'M. (The real name consists of a glitchy symbol before and after the 'M.)
M is an abbreviation for the Russian design bureau Myasishchev

History

Alternate representations

Computing

Meanings for M

See also