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The origin of the sign '''ñ''' is a double ''nn'' abbreviated to ''ñ'' during the Middle Ages, in Spain. In the medieval use of the Roman alphabet, and in many languages—not only in Spanish—the tilde (<sup>~</sup>) was often used to represent ''n'' or ''m'' over the preceding letter in order to save space, so ''ñ'' stood for ''nn'', ''õ'' stood for ''on'' or ''om'', ''ẽ'' stood for ''en'' or ''em'' (e.g. ''diferẽcia'' for ''diferencia'' “difference”), etc. The phonetic value [ɲ] for ''ñ'' was favoured in the Spanish language because, in the evolution from [[Latin language|Latin]] to Spanish, the Latin sequence ''nn'' (phonetically [nn], a “long n”) often ends in the Spanish sound [ɲ], for instance Latin ''canna'' > Spanish ''caña'' 'reed'.
The origin of the sign '''ñ''' is a double ''nn'' abbreviated to ''ñ'' during the Middle Ages, in Spain. In the medieval use of the Roman alphabet, and in many languages—not only in Spanish—the tilde (<sup>~</sup>) was often used to represent ''n'' or ''m'' over the preceding letter in order to save space, so ''ñ'' stood for ''nn'', ''õ'' stood for ''on'' or ''om'', ''ẽ'' stood for ''en'' or ''em'' (e.g. ''diferẽcia'' for ''diferencia'' “difference”), etc. The phonetic value [ɲ] for ''ñ'' was favoured in the Spanish language because, in the evolution from [[Latin language|Latin]] to Spanish, the Latin sequence ''nn'' (phonetically [nn], a “long n”) often ends in the Spanish sound [ɲ], for instance Latin ''canna'' > Spanish ''caña'' 'reed'.


In certain languages, e.g. Spanish, ''Ñ'' is treated as a letter of the alphabet in its own right.
In certain languages, including Spanish, ''Ñ'', ''ñ'' is treated as a letter of the alphabet in its own right.

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Ñ, ñ (called eñe or N with a tilde) is a grapheme used in Spanish and in several other languages using the Roman alphabet to indicate the sound which in the International Phonetic Alphabet is written [ɲ], corresponding approximately to the ny in English canyon (but in other languages, ñ stands for the sound [ŋ]—like the English ng in king—or for the nasalization of a preceding vowel). The symbol is also used in several Latin-script transcriptions, such as the standard transcription of Sanskrit, Pali and related languages.

Perhaps the best known Spanish word in the English-speaking world that has the [ɲ]-sound is mañana, 'tomorrow'.

Other languages also have the sound [ɲ], but do not use the tilde (~) for it. For example, mañana in Portuguese is amanhã (where the til, as it is called in Portuguese, is modifying the a, not the n: the grapheme nh provides the [ɲ] sound). In Occitan and Vietnamese, [ɲ] is also written nh. In Catalan, ny is used, as in the local name for Catalonia, Catalunya. Italian and French use gn, as in lasagne and champagne (which has a different pronunciation from the English).

The origin of the sign ñ is a double nn abbreviated to ñ during the Middle Ages, in Spain. In the medieval use of the Roman alphabet, and in many languages—not only in Spanish—the tilde (~) was often used to represent n or m over the preceding letter in order to save space, so ñ stood for nn, õ stood for on or om, stood for en or em (e.g. diferẽcia for diferencia “difference”), etc. The phonetic value [ɲ] for ñ was favoured in the Spanish language because, in the evolution from Latin to Spanish, the Latin sequence nn (phonetically [nn], a “long n”) often ends in the Spanish sound [ɲ], for instance Latin canna > Spanish caña 'reed'.

In certain languages, including Spanish, Ñ, ñ is treated as a letter of the alphabet in its own right.