"One "em" is sometimes said to be equal to the width of a capital "M" in a particular typeface, as the "M" was commonly cast the full width of the square "blocks", or "em-quads" (also "mutton-quads), which are used in printing presses."
More from wikipedia:
"M is the thirteenth letter of the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English is spelled 'em'.
The letter M derives its shape from the Phoenician Mem, via the Greek Mu. Semitic Mem probably originally pictured water. It is known that Semitic people working in Egypt c. 2000 bc borrowed a hieroglyph for Water that was first used for an alveolar nasal...this same symbol became used for M in Semitic, because their word for water began with that sound."
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