n

英 [en] 美 [ɛn]

N: in nickname, newt, and British dialectal naunt, the -n- belongs to a preceding indefinite article an or possessive pronoun mine.

Other examples of this from Middle English manuscripts include a neilond ("an island," early 13c.), a narawe ("an arrow," c. 1400), a nox ("an ox," c. 1400), a noke ("an oak," early 15c.), a nappyle ("an apple," early 15c.), a negge ("an egg," 15c.). In 16c., an idiot sometimes became a nidiot, which, with still-common casual pronunciation, became nidget, which, alas, has not survived.

The process also worked in surnames, from oblique cases of Old English at "by, near," as in Nock/Nokes/Noaks from atten Oke "by the oak;" Nye from atten ye "near the lowland;" and see Nashville.

But it is more common for an English word to lose an -n- to a preceding a: apron, auger, adder, umpire, humble pie, etc. The mathematical use of n for "an indefinite number" is first recorded 1852, in to the nth power.

3. Ayer started N. W. Ayer & Son in 1869, naming the firm for his father.: 艾尔在1869年成立了N.W.艾尔父子公司，公司以他父亲的名字命名。

4. The N pole and S pole of two magnets will attract each other.: 两个磁体的N极和S极互相吸引.

5. Rock'n'roll has become so commercialised and safe since punk.: 摇滚乐自从朋克乐以后就已经过于商业化而缺乏新意了。