The New Student's Reference Work/N

N (ěn), the fourteenth letter, is a voiced consonant. It is sounded through the nose while the tongue touches the upper front teeth, and is therefore classed as a den-tonasal or linguanasal. It also is a liquid and even a semivowel. When n is followed by a guttural, they form one nasal, as in ring, or the n becomes more nasal and the guttural keeps its own sound, as in rink. If n and the following guttural belong to different syllables, n usually remains n, as in engage. Its commonest sound occurs in done, nasal, ran, but when followed by k or hard g, n becomes the ng of sing, as in sink, single. N preceded by l or m at the end of a word is silent, as in kiln, hymn.