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← Lamedh               Mem               Nun →
Phoenician	Hebrew	Aramaic	Syriac	Arabic
	מ,ם		ܡܡ	ﻣ,ﻡ
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 alphabet mīm ﻡ. Its value is IPA: [m].

The Phoenician letter gave rise to the Greek Mu (Μ), Etruscan 𐌌, Latin M, and Cyrillic М.

Contents 1 Origins 2 Hebrew Mem 2.1 Hebrew pronunciation 2.2 Variations on written form/pronunciation 2.3 Significance 2.4 Mem and Tarot 3 Arabic mīm

Phoenician alphabet (1050 BCE–unknown)

𐤀    𐤁    𐤂    𐤃    𐤄    𐤅

𐤆    𐤇    𐤈    𐤉    𐤊    𐤋

𐤌    𐤍    𐤎    𐤏    𐤐

𐤑    𐤒    𐤓    𐤔    𐤕

Semitic abjads · Genealogy

Hebrew alphabet (1000 BCE–present)

א    ב    ג    ד    ה    ו

ז    ח    ט    י    כך

ל    מם    נן    ס    ע    פף

צץ    ק    ר    ש    ת

History · Transliteration Niqqud · Dagesh · Gematria Cantillation · Numeration

Syriac alphabet (200 BCE–present)

ܐ    ܒ    ܓ    ܕ    ܗ    ܘ

ܙ    ܚ    ܛ    ܝ    ܟܟ    ܠ

ܡܡ    ܢܢ    ܣ    ܥ    ܦ

ܨ    ܩ    ܪ    ܫ    ܬ

Arabic alphabet (400 CE–present)

ﺍ    ﺏ    ﺕ    ﺙ    ﺝ    ﺡ

ﺥ    ﺩ    ﺫ    ﺭ    ﺯ     س

ﺵ    ﺹ    ﺽ    ﻁ    ﻅ    ﻉ

ﻍ    ﻑ    ﻕ    ﻙ    ﻝ

ﻡ    ﻥ    ه‍    ﻭ    ﻱ

History · Transliteration Diacritics · Hamza ء Numerals · Numeration

v • d • e

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 (mayim in modern Hebrew, mye in modern Arabic).

Mem represents a bilabial nasal, (IPA: [m]), like the English M.

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.

The final form of Mem is used in the middle of a word only once in the Bible. In Isaiah 9:6, it says:

• לםרבה (לְמַרְבֵּה) הַמִּשְׂרָה וּלְשָׁלוֹם אֵין-קֵץ.
• That the rule may be increased, and of peace there be no end.

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, as the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is most often associated with Death, Atu XIII. Aleister Crowley, however, in his Thoth tarot deck, assigns Nun to the thirteenth card, and Mem to the The Hanged Man.

The letter is named mīm, and is written is several ways depending in its position in the word:

Position
Isolated	Initial	Medial	Final
م	مـ‍	ـمـ	ـم

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 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).