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 researchers focused on the proportion of shape-based nouns in children's initial vocabularies.

From Science Daily

“If you do campaigning in South Florida and talk about ‘noun, verb socialism’ and ‘noun, verb communism’ that is socially competent.

From Salon

In all, the Obamas reminded the Democrats and the American people that democracy is both a verb and a noun.

From Salon

She found that high-scoring essays shared features related more to the ability to express complex meaning, such as lexical diversity, noun modification, and soundness and number of arguments, than to structural complexity.

From Science Daily

Their collective noun is an “unkindness” or — wait for it — a “conspiracy” of ravens.

From New York Times

More About Noun

What is a noun?

A noun is a word used to refer to a person, place, or thing, such as Tayla, Peru, and dog. A noun can also refer to an abstract concept, such as peace, and an activity, like hunting.

Nouns work with verbs to make sentences, such as Cats run or Water flows. Nouns can act as the subject or the object of a sentence, as in Steve runs marathons. They can be singular (flower) or plural (flowers).

There are a lot of different kinds of nouns. The major kinds of nouns are common nouns, proper nouns, abstract nouns, and collective nouns.

Common nouns refer to things broadly or generically. They don’t refer to a specific thing and aren’t capitalized. Common nouns include words like sports, hamburger, and trash.

Proper nouns refer to specific people, places, or things that often have names. Proper nouns are capitalized and include words like Tuesday, Russia, Albert Einstein, and Microsoft.

Abstract nouns refer to ideas and things that can’t actually be experienced with our senses. These nouns include words like anger, economy, and strength. The opposite of abstract nouns are concrete nouns, which are things we can experience with our senses, like books and ice cream.

A collective noun is a noun that refers to a group that acts as a single unit or is performing an action at the same time. Collective nouns include words like squad, herd, and gang.

The majority of the words in the English language are nouns, and new ones are added all of the time as the world changes around us.

Why is noun important?

he first records of the term noun come from around 1350. It ultimately comes from the Latin word nōmen, which means “name.” Unsurprisingly, the English word name also comes from nōmen. Nouns are the names we have given to all of the things and ideas that are a part of life.

Sometimes, we replace a noun in a sentence with a type of word known as a pronoun. Words like I, you, him, and her are pronouns and can serve all the same roles in a sentence as nouns.

We use words known as adjectives to describe or modify nouns. Adjectives usually give more details about nouns by describing their qualities or traits. Adjectives include words like happy, big, slow, and smart.

Learn more about nouns in our article about them here.

Did you know … ?

Sometimes, the same noun can have two different meanings depending on whether it is capitalized. This often happens when proper nouns take their names from common nouns. For example, cats is a common noun for feline animals, while Cats is a 1981 musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

What are real-life examples of noun?

This chart gives some more examples of different kinds of nouns.

baboons	common noun, plural, concrete
The Great Wall of China	proper noun, singular, concrete
wish	common noun, singular, abstract
dreams	common noun, plural, abstract
army	common noun, singular, concrete, collective

 

Nouns are the majority of the words we use in English.

Guys I'm on a train let's discuss #things and #places and other #nouns

— Brock Vereen (@brockvereen) May 6, 2016

Is anyone else bothered when proper nouns aren’t capitalized? Or is that just me?

— Childish Blackdino (@dele_ogunrinola) February 20, 2019

 

What other words are related to noun?

• person
• place
• thing
• idea
• verb
• pronoun
• adjective

Quiz yourself!

Which of the following words is a noun?

A. hungry
B. kittens
C. eat
D. quickly