Ny, Or N? Why is it there?

Question

When I am writing my Spanish teacher tells me to write this: ñ, and not this: n. What does the little squiggly line mean? Why is it on top of the N? Please help me answer this question.

Answer 1

Because Ñ or ñ is a single, unique, letter/character of the Spanish alphabet, it is like you asking, Can I write Q without that little diagonal line at the bottom right of the O? or a lower case i without the dot on top. the answere is No.

• For English speakers, that little "squiggly line" is separated from the n, in Spanish is not the case.

I really like this, and it is easy to understand. - nicksmouse, Apr 4, 2012

lol - good answer :) - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 4, 2012

Answer 2

You have to go back in history for this. At one time, there was no distinct letter ñ. It started out as "nn". During the early stages of development of the Spanish language, when all books were written or copied by hand, this tended to take up room on the page, so the scribes started stacking the n's atop one another. Eventually, the top "n" became just a styalized squiggle. As you have probably noticed, there IS a letter "n" as well, just as there is both an "r" and "rr", an "L" and a "LL".