Ν

Not in a capital letter Etymologicum Magnum (1499).

Ni (according to the RAE since 2001) or ny (in capital letters Ν, lowercase ν; call in ancient Greek νῦ nû /nŷː/, in Modern Greek νι/νυ ni/ny /ni/) is the thirteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. Called nu, in an extraordinary way, in the scientific field.^{[citation required]} It must be distinguished from its derivative in the Latin alphabet N.

In the Greek numeral system it has a value of 50 (Νʹ).

History

Its ancient name in Greek was νυ, with ípsilon, which loses the final sound with respect to the name of the Phoenician letter nun (𐤍) from which it comes. In modern Greek her name is νι, written with iota, like the letter mi (Μ).

Epigraphic variants

In archaic epigraphic sources the following variants appear:

Use

The lowercase letter ν is used as a symbol for:

• Nu, which in physics and chemistry (and in other fields), represents the frequency of a wave.
• Nuwhich in particle physics is used to denote neutrinos
• Nuwhich in classical mechanics is frequently used for the coefficient of Poisson.
• Nu, which in fluid mechanics represents kinematic viscosity.
• Nuwhich in orbital mechanics represents the true anomaly.

Unicode

• Greek and Coptic

• Maths