noun

[ noun ]

noun

, Grammar.

1. any member of a class of words that can function as the main or only elements of subjects of verbs (A dog just barked), or of objects of verbs or prepositions (to send money from home ), and that in English can take plural forms and possessive endings (Three of his buddies want to borrow John's laptop). Nouns are often described as referring to persons, places, things, states, or qualities, and the word noun is itself often used as an attributive modifier, as in noun compound noun group

   Synonyms: name, substantive

noun

/ naʊn /

noun

1. AbbreviationNn nominal
   1. a word or group of words that refers to a person, place, or thing or any syntactically similar word
   2. ( as modifier )

      a noun phrase

noun

1. The part of speech that names a person, place, thing, or idea. The following words are nouns: child , town , granite , kindness , government , elephant , and Taiwan . In sentences, nouns generally function as subjects or as objects .

Grammar Note

Most of us learned the classic definition of noun back in elementary school, where we were told simply that “a noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.” That's not a bad beginning; it even clues us in to the origin of the word, since noun is derived ultimately from the Latin word nōmen, which means “name.” As we see from its dictionary definition, a noun can name not only a physical thing but also abstract things such as a state ( happiness ) or a quality ( beauty ). The word is defined further in terms of the way it functions in the language—as a subject or object in a sentence or as the object of a preposition. In any of those positions, it can be modified by an adjective or adjective phrase: a talented but quirky artist. Nouns are typically said to fall into two categories: proper noun and common noun. A proper noun designates a particular person, place, or thing and is normally capitalized: Shakespeare, Mexico, the Pentagon. A common noun refers to a generic person, place, or thing: teacher, classroom, smartphone. The plural form of a common noun names a set or group. (Proper nouns are pluralized only in special circumstances: There are many Springfields in the United States. Oh, no, the Smiths are coming to dinner again. ) To form the plural, most common nouns simply add an -s ( teachers, classrooms, smartphones ). Some nouns ending in –o (but not all) add -es. Nouns ending in the sounds [ch], [j], [sh], [zh], [s], or [z] also have plurals ending in -es ( bus/buses, ash, ashes, judge/judges ). Several nouns form the plural in a different way. These include child/children, knife/knives, and a number of others. Some nouns have a plural form identical to that of the singular: sheep/sheep. Seven English nouns form their plural by changing the vowel in the middle of the word: woman/women, man/men, goose/geese, tooth/teeth, foot/feet, louse/lice. (Can you think of the seventh one?*) And then, of course, there are nouns borrowed from other languages that keep their non-English plurals ( bacterium/bacteria, chapeau/chapeaux, kibbutz/kibbutzim ). But not all nouns can be pluralized. Thus we have another way to categorize nouns. Those that can be thought of in the plural are called count nouns; the things they name can be counted and enumerated. Other nouns, called mass nouns or noncount nouns, name things that are usually not counted, even when the amount grows larger. This class includes nouns that refer to a substance ( water, sand, oxygen, electricity ), a quality ( kindness, honesty ), or an abstract concept ( happiness, health ). There are exceptions: some substances can be spoken of in the plural if you are referring to various kinds ( The wines of France are known throughout the world ) or to units or containers of the substance ( We’ll have three coffees and two teas ). Certain other nouns that name something relatively concrete, like furniture, flatware, hardware, and software, are also treated as mass nouns. This means that in English we do not say “This computer comes with the latest softwares.” Nor do we say “I’m buying a furniture” (although we can buy a couch or a table ), since mass nouns normally cannot be immediately preceded by “a,” “an,” or a numeral. Instead, we use the singular form even when referring to large quantities, saying things like “a lot of software” or “too much furniture.” This distinction between count nouns and mass nouns, complex though it may seem, is pretty much absorbed automatically if you grow up speaking English. But it can be one of the most difficult things to assimilate for people learning English as a foreign language. The answer? Read, read, read. And listen. * mouse/mice

Derived Forms

• ˈnounless, adjective
• ˈnounal, adjective
• ˈnounally, adverb

Other Words From

• nounal adjective
• nounal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of noun¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English nowne, from Anglo-French noun, from Latin nōmen “name”; name

Word History and Origins

Origin of noun¹

C14: via Anglo-French from Latin nōmen name

Example Sentences

The proper noun when spoken can be confused for the common noun.

From The Daily Beast

The noun “mechanicals” refers to any physical reproduction of a composed and performed work—that is, “canned music.”

From The Daily Beast

“The Great Depression” as a proper noun only came into popular use in the 1950s, long after the event was over.

From The Daily Beast

When I shut off the radio, the last word I hear must be a noun—not a verb, or adjective, or preposition.

From The Daily Beast

Star Trek (noun) Science-fiction franchise launched on television in 1966.

From The Daily Beast

I can find no authority for making it a collective noun, as Bell suggests.

From Project Gutenberg

This often becomes an abstract feminine noun, answering to the French termination -ée; armée in Mistral's language isPg 56 armado.

From Project Gutenberg

On the other hand, when the words “a black” are heard, the mind constructs no image; it waits until the noun modified is spoken.

From Project Gutenberg

In balanced sentences one part is balanced against another,—a noun and a noun, an adjective and an adjective, phrase and phrase.

From Project Gutenberg

The words pendulum and intensity were first used by him, and it was he who first used fluid as a noun.

From Project Gutenberg