The letter 'ŋ' in the International Phonetic Alphabet, representing the velar nasal sound found in words like 'sing'.
Named after the sound it represents, the velar nasal /ŋ/. The symbol was created by phoneticians as part of the IPA system in the late 19th century, derived from the shape resembling an 'n' with a tail.
This humble letter represents one of the most common sounds in English that we never think about - it's the sound that distinguishes 'sin' from 'sing' and appears in nearly every '-ing' word we speak. Despite its frequency, many English speakers are unaware this sound exists as a distinct phoneme.
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