The letter ñ is one of Spain’s most famous exports, and it is pretty special.
It looks like a regular ‘n’ but with a little squiggle on top called a tilde. That tiny squiggle makes a big difference in how the letter sounds and what it means. It’s pronounced like the ‘ny’ in ‘canyon,’ so the word niño (meaning boy) sounds quite different from nino, which actually isn’t a word at all!
The ñ didn’t just pop up by accident. It came about in the Middle Ages when scribes wanted a shortcut for writing double n’s. Instead of writing two n’s side by side, they wrote one n and put a small squiggle above it.
Today, the ñ is a symbol of the Spanish language and culture. It even caused some problems when computers and keyboards first came along, because many didn’t include the letter.
Beyond Spain, the ñ has travelled far and wide, showing up in many languages across Latin America and even popping up in English now and then.
It is small but mighty, a little letter with a big personality.
