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This has been on my mind for a while with nowhere to really ask it. What does the "N" in the JLPT levels (such as N1-N5) stand for? My current theory is [能力]{のうりょく} since these denote the level of skill one possesses, but I'm not certain. This isn't really a burning question either; I just like knowing weird facts like this.

Pleiades
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not about the Japanese language. – istrasci Feb 09 '16 at 08:35
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    I wasn't sure if this would get flagged or not because it's not completely about Japanese, but I figured it was related enough. I'll keep that in mind for next time. – Pleiades Feb 09 '16 at 14:41

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In their 新しい「日本語能力試験」ガイドブック概要版 they say:

「N」は「Nihongo（[日本語]{にほんご}）」、「New（[新]{あたら}しい）」を[表]{あらわ}します。

　

chocolate
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