See Also:

commensurable (iou) and N (iou)


commensurable (iou)



commensurable adjective. M16.
[Late Latin commensurabilis, formed as COM- + mensurabilis MENSURABLE: see -ABLE.]
Measurable by the same standard (to, with); (of numbers, magnitudes, etc.) having a ratio that may be expressed as a ratio of two integers. M16.
Proportionate (to). Now rare. M17.
commensura'bility noun L16.
commensurableness noun M16.
commensurably adverb M17.

N (iou)



N, n.
The fourteenth letter of the modern English alphabet and the thirteenth of the ancient Roman one, repr. the Greek nu and the Semitic nun. The sound normally represented by the letter is a (usu. voiced) nasal consonant. N in mod. English has the following values: (i) the alveolar nasal before the consonants 'hard' g and k; (iii) silent as the final letter of a syllable after m, as in condemn, hymn. Pl. N's, Ns. See also EN 2.
I.
The letter and its sound.
n-declension declension of Germanic nouns and adjectives in which the stem ends in n.
The shape of the letter.
N-shaped adjective having a shape or a cross-section like the capital letter N.
Typography. = EN 2.
n quadrat = EN quadrat.
II. Symbolical uses.
(Cap. N.) Representing the name of a person to be inserted in a written or spoken text.
Used to denote serial order, applied e.g. to the fourteenth (or the thirteenth, either I or J being omitted) group or section, sheet of a book, etc.
a. Math. (Italic n.) Used to denote an indefinite or unspecified (usu. integral) number; to the nth (power), to any required power (fig. to any extent, to the utmost degree). Also used in place of bi-, di-, tri-, etc., in words, as n-ary, n-tuple.
b. Physics & Chemistry. (Italic n.) Denoting the principal quantum number of an electron in an atom, which determines its orbital energy (to the first order) and takes integral values.
c. Physics. (Cap. N.) Designating the series of X-ray emission lines of an excited atom, of longer wavelength than the M-series, arising from electron transitions to the atomic orbit of fourth lowest energy, of principal quantum number 4; hence N-shell, this orbit; N-electrons, electrons in this shell.
d. Genetics. (Italic n.) Representing the haploid or gametic chromosome number (so 2n = diploid or zygotic number, 3n = triploid, etc.). Cf. X, X 7b.
N-rays, a form of radiation supposedly discovered in 1903 by R. Blondlot but later found to be spurious. obsolete exc. Hist. E20.
(Italic n.) A unit of neutron dosage. Only in M20.
III.
Abbrevs.: (A small selection only is given here. Those all in caps. or small caps. also occur with a full stop after each letter; some of those all in caps. also occur (i) with initial cap. only, (ii) in small caps.) N = (Chess) knight; New; (Physics) newton; (Chemistry) nitrogen; (Chemistry) normal (sense A.4b); north(ern); nuclear. n = (as prefix) nano-; (Chemistry) normal (sense A.4c) (n-octane: see OCTANE 1).