Meanings
nun1
plural nuns
- A member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those living together in a cloister.
1 more example
Thus, when the nuns came to the mission and we saw that instead of murmuring soft blessings and gliding seraphically over the grass in diaphanous habits, they wore smart blouses and skirts and walked, laughed and talked in low twanging tones very much like our own American missionaries did, we were very disappointed.
1988, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Faber & Faber Limited (2021), page 258Synonyms: sister, moniale, sistren, cloistress · Antonyms: brother, friar, monk, frater
- broadlyA member of a similar female community in other confessions.
a Buddhist nun
- UKarchaicslangA prostitute.
"I mean to inform you," answered the Oxonian, with a grin on his face, "that those three nymphs, who have so much dazzled your optics, are three nuns, and the plump female is Mother .... of great notoriety [...]"
1881, Pierce Egan, chapter 8, in Life in London, page 2051 more example
Why laſt night, as Colonel Kill'em, Sir William Weezy, Lord Frederick Foretop, and I were careleſsly ſliding the Ranelagh round, picking our teeth, after a damn'd muzzy dinner at Boodle's, who ſhould trip by but an abbeſs, well known about town, with a ſmart little nun in her ſuite.
1770, Samuel Foote, The Lame Lover, a Comedy in Three Acts. […], London: […] Paul Vaillant; and sold by P[eter] Elmsly […]; and Robinson and Roberts, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 12Synonyms: abandons, alley cat, almah, bangtail, Bankside lady, bargirl, bat, beotch
- A kind of pigeon with the feathers on its head like the hood of a nun.
nun2
nun3
- pronunciation spellingPronunciation spelling of nothing.
Nun4
- rareA male given name from Hebrew.
And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Nun5
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA member of a Christian religious community of women who live by certain vows and usually wear a habit, (Roman Catholicism, specifically) those living together in a cloister.
nounA prostitute.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
nun · noun
- Late Latinnonna“nun, tutor”
- Old Englishnunne“nun”
- Middle Englishnonne
- Englishnun
From Middle English nonne, nunne, from Old English nunne (“nun”), from Late Latin nonna (“nun, tutor”), originally (along with masculine form nonnus (“man”)) a term of address for elderly persons, perhaps from children's speech, reminiscent of nana, like papa etc. Doublet of nonna.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →nun · noun
Borrowed from the letter’s name in the respective language. Doublet of nu.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans non, non
- nonmember of a Christian religious community of women
- nonmember of a non-Christian religious community of women
Arabic رَاهِبَة, نُون
- رَاهِبَة (rāhiba)member of a Christian religious community of women
- نُون (nūn)Semitic letter
- ن (n)Semitic letter
Basque moja
- mojamember of a Christian religious community of women
Bulgarian монахи́ня, калу́герка
- монахи́ня (monahínja)member of a Christian religious community of women
- калу́герка (kalúgerka)member of a Christian religious community of women
Catalan monja, nun
- monjamember of a Christian religious community of women
- nunSemitic letter
Chinese Mandarin 修女, 尼姑
- 修女 (xiūnǚ)member of a Christian religious community of women
- 尼姑 (nígū)member of a Christian religious community of women
- 姑子 (gūzi)member of a Christian religious community of women
- 尼 (ní)member of a Christian religious community of women
Czech jeptiška, řeholnice
- jeptiškamember of a Christian religious community of women
- řeholnicemember of a Christian religious community of women
- mniškamember of a non-Christian religious community of women
Danish nonne
- nonnemember of a Christian religious community of women
Dutch non, (klooster-, slot-)zuster
- nonmember of a Christian religious community of women
- (klooster-, slot-)zustermember of a Christian religious community of women
- noenSemitic letter
Esperanto monaĥino, monaĥino
- monaĥinomember of a Christian religious community of women
- monaĥinomember of a non-Christian religious community of women
Estonian nunn
- nunnmember of a Christian religious community of women
Finnish nunna, nun
- nunnamember of a Christian religious community of women
- nunSemitic letter
French nonne, religieuse
- nonnemember of a Christian religious community of women
- religieusemember of a Christian religious community of women
- bonne sœurmember of a Christian religious community of women
- monialemember of a Christian religious community of women
- nonnainmember of a Christian religious community of women
- nounSemitic letter
- nunSemitic letter
German Nonne, Ordensschwester
- Nonnemember of a Christian religious community of women
- Ordensschwestermember of a Christian religious community of women
- Klosterschwestermember of a Christian religious community of women
- Schwestermember of a Christian religious community of women
Greek μοναχή, καλόγρια
- μοναχή (monachí)member of a Christian religious community of women
- καλόγρια (kalógria)member of a Christian religious community of women
- μοναχή (monachí)member of a non-Christian religious community of women
Hebrew נְזִירָה, נון
- נְזִירָה (nezirá)member of a Christian religious community of women
- נון (nun)Semitic letter
Hindi मठवासिनी, भक्तिन
- मठवासिनी (maṭhvāsinī)member of a Christian religious community of women
- भक्तिन (bhaktin)member of a Christian religious community of women
- मठवासिनी (maṭhvāsinī)member of a non-Christian religious community of women
- तपस्विनी (tapasvinī)member of a non-Christian religious community of women
Hungarian apáca, nővér
- apácamember of a Christian religious community of women
- nővérmember of a Christian religious community of women
Icelandic nunna
- nunnamember of a Christian religious community of women
Indonesian biarawati, suster
- biarawatimember of a Christian religious community of women
- sustermember of a Christian religious community of women
Irish bean rialta
- bean rialtamember of a Christian religious community of women
Italian suora, monaca
- suoramember of a Christian religious community of women
- monacamember of a Christian religious community of women
- monacamember of a non-Christian religious community of women
Japanese 修道女, 尼僧
- 修道女 (shūdōjo)member of a Christian religious community of women
- 尼僧 (nisō)member of a Christian religious community of women
- 童貞 (dōtei)member of a Christian religious community of women
- 尼 (ama)member of a Christian religious community of women
Korean 수녀, 비구니
- 수녀 (sunyeo)member of a Christian religious community of women
- 비구니 (biguni)member of a Christian religious community of women
Latin nonna, monacha
- nonnamember of a Christian religious community of women
- monachamember of a Christian religious community of women
Latvian mūķene
- mūķenemember of a Christian religious community of women
Lithuanian vienuolė
- vienuolėmember of a Christian religious community of women
Malay rahib perempuan
- rahib perempuanmember of a Christian religious community of women
Māori none
- nonemember of a Christian religious community of women
Norwegian Bokmål nonne
- nonnemember of a Christian religious community of women
Persian نون, ن
- نون (nun)Semitic letter
- نSemitic letter
Polish zakonnica, mniszka
- zakonnicamember of a Christian religious community of women
- mniszkamember of a Christian religious community of women
- siostra zakonnamember of a Christian religious community of women
- siostramember of a Christian religious community of women
- mniszkamember of a non-Christian religious community of women
- nunSemitic letter
Portuguese freira, religiosa
- freiramember of a Christian religious community of women
- religiosamember of a Christian religious community of women
- madremember of a Christian religious community of women
- monjamember of a Christian religious community of women
Romanian călugăriță
- călugărițămember of a Christian religious community of women
Russian мона́хиня, мона́шка
- мона́хиня (monáxinja)member of a Christian religious community of women
- мона́шка (monáška)member of a Christian religious community of women
- нун (nun)Semitic letter
Scottish Gaelic cailleach dhubh, bean-chràbhaidh
- cailleach dhubhmember of a Christian religious community of women
- bean-chràbhaidhmember of a Christian religious community of women
Slovak mníška, rehoľníčka
- mníškamember of a Christian religious community of women
- rehoľníčkamember of a Christian religious community of women
Spanish monja, religiosa
- monjamember of a Christian religious community of women
- religiosamember of a Christian religious community of women
- nunSemitic letter
Swahili sista
- sistamember of a Christian religious community of women
Swedish nunna
- nunnamember of a Christian religious community of women
Tagalog madre
- madremember of a Christian religious community of women
Tamil துறவி, துறவி
- துறவி (tuṟavi)member of a Christian religious community of women
- துறவி (tuṟavi)member of a non-Christian religious community of women
Thai ชี, แม่ชี
- ชี (chii)member of a Christian religious community of women
- แม่ชีmember of a Christian religious community of women
- ชี (chii)member of a non-Christian religious community of women
- แม่ชีmember of a non-Christian religious community of women
Turkish rahibe
- rahibemember of a Christian religious community of women
Ukrainian мона́хиня, мона́шка
- мона́хиня (monáxynja)member of a Christian religious community of women
- мона́шка (monáška)member of a Christian religious community of women
- черни́ця (černýcja)member of a Christian religious community of women
Urdu راہِبَہ, نَن
- راہِبَہ (rāhiba)member of a Christian religious community of women
- نَن (nan)member of a Christian religious community of women
- نون (nūn)Semitic letter
Vietnamese xơ, bà xơ
- xơmember of a Christian religious community of women
- bà xơmember of a Christian religious community of women
- nữ tu sĩmember of a Christian religious community of women
- nữ tumember of a Christian religious community of women
- ni (Buddism)member of a non-Christian religious community of women
- nữ tu sĩmember of a non-Christian religious community of women
Welsh lleian
- lleianmember of a Christian religious community of women
Yiddish נון
- נון (nun)Semitic letter
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with nun
Sounds the same
Cite this entry
nun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nun
“nun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nun. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nun,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nun.
Source: nun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.