م (mīm) is letter 24 of the 28 in the Arabic alphabet, between ل lām and ن nūn. Its sound is m, as in moon. It joins on both sides, so it has four shapes: م م م م. It is a moon letter, and its abjad value is 40.
Hear its name, ميم (mīm):
Mīm in all four positions
Mīm joins to the letter before it and to the letter after it, so its shape depends on where it sits in a word. Alone it is م. At the start of a word it is م, in the middle م, and at the end م.
| Position | Shape | Code point | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isolated | م | U+FEE1 | written alone, or after a letter that does not join forward |
| Initial | م | U+FEE3 | at the start of a word or a piece of a word |
| Medial | م | U+FEE4 | between two letters that join it |
| Final | م | U+FEE2 | at the end of a word, joined from the letter before |
Typed text stores all four shapes as one character, U+0645 (ARABIC LETTER MEEM); the codes in the table, U+FEE1 to U+FEE4, are presentation forms that the Unicode Arabic FAQ does not recommend for regular text.
Mīm is number 5 of the 28 letters by frequency, 5.9% of all letters, in the 50,000 most common word forms of Arabic film and TV subtitles (hermitdave/FrequencyWords, OpenSubtitles 2018), each form counted as often as it occurs; it is initial in 49%, medial in 30%, final in 16% and alone in 5% of its occurrences.
How to pronounce mīm
The sound of mīm is m, as in moon, written m in the transliteration of our Arabic alphabet chart.
Arabic words with mīm
These 5 everyday words show mīm in real writing: it is initial in موز and مشمش; medial in قمر and مشمش; final in قلم; alone in أم. The first three are the practice words printed on its worksheet; the others come from other letters' worksheets and our Arabic flashcards, and more words by topic are in our Arabic vocabulary lists.
| Word | Transliteration | Meaning | Mīm here | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| موز | mawz | bananas | initial | |
| قمر | qamar | moon | medial | |
| قلم | qalam | pen | final | |
| مشمش | mishmish | apricots | initial, medial | |
| أم | umm | mother | alone |
Mīm with al-, and its number
Mīm is a moon letter, so the l of al- (the) is pronounced before it: الموز is al-mawz, the bananas (test any word in our sun and moon letters checker).
Its abjad value is 40 in both the Mashriqi and the Maghribi order; our abjad calculator adds up whole words.
How to tell mīm apart
Mīm is one of the letters with no dotted twin, so its shape alone identifies it. Mīm is one of the eight letters with no twin, and English has its sound. Its loop sits on the line at the start of a word and drops a tail below the line at the end.
Practise writing mīm
Trace it on the free mīm tracing worksheet (PDF, one page, 63 KB), which prints its four shapes beside موز (mawz), قمر (qamar) and قلم (qalam); the other 27 are on our Arabic writing worksheets page.
Words and names that start with mīm: what mashallah means, Muhammad in Arabic and Malik in Arabic.
Frequently asked questions
How do you pronounce the Arabic letter mīm?
The sound of mīm (م) is m, as in moon, written m in transliteration.
Does mīm join to the next letter?
Yes. Mīm joins on both sides, so it has four forms: م alone, م at the start of a word, م in the middle and م at the end.
Is mīm a sun letter or a moon letter?
A moon letter. Before mīm the l of al- is pronounced, so الموز is al-mawz (the bananas).
What is the abjad value of mīm?
40, in both the Mashriqi and the Maghribi order.