Mazalogy · Hebrew letter reference in English

Mem: Hebrew letter forms and values

Identify Mem מ and final ם, compare standard, ordinal and reduced-letter values, and check מים in its cited Hebrew source.

Ordinary Mem

Final Mem

Published 13 October 2026 · Our editorial approach

One word can show both Mem shapes

Mem identity: alphabet position 13
Form	Character	Unicode code point	Unicode 17.0 name
Ordinary Mem	מ	`U+05DE`	HEBREW LETTER MEM
Final Mem	ם	`U+05DD`	HEBREW LETTER FINAL MEM

Mem. Reading cue: m.

מים begins with ordinary Mem, מ, and ends with final Mem, ם. Unicode encodes those shapes separately. The middle letter is Yod. This three-letter word is a compact way to recognize both forms without treating the final shape as a new alphabet identity.

Compare final Mem with Samekh, ס, in the same printed font. Similar enclosing outlines can be confused in a small image, but they represent different letters. Preserve the character you find in the source rather than selecting a substitute from the shape of a decorative design.

One letter, three explicit values

Mem and final Mem in Mazalogy’s three methods
Standard	Ordinal	Reduced letters
40	13	4

Both Mem forms contribute 40 in standard, 13 in ordinal and 4 in reduced-letter counting. The two Mem occurrences in מים contribute 80, 26 and 8 together; Yod then supplies the remaining amount. An extended scheme assigning final Mem 600 is a different convention, not the calculation shown here.

מים: water

Pointed source form: מַיִם · reading cue: mayim. Genesis 1:6 · Mechon Mamre.

The verse includes the unprefixed word מים as well as forms with attached letters. This example calculates the unprefixed word, not every occurrence of water language in the verse.

Each actual letter in reading order; pronunciation marks contribute no values
Reading position	Written letter	Base letter	Standard	Ordinal	Reduced letters
1	מ	מ	40	13	4
2	י	י	10	10	1
3	ם	מ	40	13	4
Word total			90	36	9

Standard: 40 + 10 + 40 = 90 · Ordinal: 13 + 10 + 13 = 36 · Reduced letters: 4 + 1 + 4 = 9

Its group in the Gra version of Sefer Yetzirah

Mem מ is among the three mothers listed in Gra 3:1: אמש. Keep this textual classification distinct from the alphabet position and the arithmetic columns above.

Study the source in a guided introduction · Read about textual versions

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Sources, dates and conventions

Prepared by Mazalogy with AI assistance. Characters, source-word spellings and calculation rules were checked against the sources and the calculator on 13 October 2026. Reading cues introduce the cited chart; pronunciation varies by community. Source attribution does not imply outside review or endorsement.

English reference edition. Numerical examples retain final forms and actual vowel letters while ignoring pronunciation marks. Final forms keep base-letter values in all three methods. Reduced letters are added without reducing the completed word total again.