noun
English
Etymology
From Middle English noun, from Anglo-Norman noun, non, nom, from Latin nōmen (“name; noun”). The grammatical sense in Latin was a semantic loan from Koine Greek ὄνομα (ónoma). Doublet of name and nomen.
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) IPA(key): /naʊn/
- (Southern American English, MLE) IPA(key): /næːn/
Audio (US-Inland North) (file) - Rhymes: -aʊn
Noun
noun (plural nouns)
- (grammar, narrow sense) A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea; one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.
- (grammar, now rare, broad sense) Either a word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality or idea, or a word that modifies or describes a previous word or its referent; a substantive or adjective, sometimes also including other parts of speech such as numeral or pronoun.
- 1753, Thomas Martin, An Explanation of the Accidence and Grammar To the End of the Syntax in which The Grounds of each Rule in the Syntax are laid down in the plainest Manner. Compiled By way of Question and Answer, For the Use of Schools., London, page 1:
- Q. What is a Noun? A. The Name of a Thing. Q. How many Sorts of Nouns are there? [...] A. A Noun Substantive, and a Noun Adjective.
- 1786, Signor Veneroni, The Complete Italian Master; Containing The best and easiest Rules for attaining that Language, London, page 6:
- A Noun is a word which serves to name and distinguish some thing; [...]. There are two sorts of nouns; one is called a noun substantive, and the other a noun adjective.
- 1852, Leonhard Schmitz, Elementary Latin grammar, Edinburgh, page 123:
- The first part of a compound word is either a noun (substantive, adjective, or numeral), an adverb, or a preposition, and in a very few cases a verb.
- 1856, R. G. Latham, Logic in its application to language, London, page 224:
- Finally, there are many who limit the parts of speech to the noun, the verb, and the particle; referring to the first, the substantive, the adjective, and the pronoun (including the article), to the second the participle, to the third the remainder.
- 1956, Herbert Weir Smyth & Gordon M. Messing, “189. Parts of Speech”, in Greek Grammar, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, page 44:
- Greek has the following parts of speech: substantives, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and particles. In this Grammar noun is used to include both the substantive and the adjective.
- 1894, B. L. Gildersleeve & G. Lodge, Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar, Dover, published 2008, page 9:
- The Parts of Speech are the Noun (Substantive and Adjective), the Pronoun, the Verb, and the Particles (Adverb, Preposition, and Conjunction)[.]
- 1993, Arthur Anthony Macdonell, A Vedic Grammar For Students, First Indian edition, Delhi, page 283:
- The parts of which the sentence may consist are either inflected words: the noun (substantive and adjective) and the verb, the participle which shares the nature of both, and the pronoun; or uninflected words: prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions.
-
- (computing) An object within a user interface to which a certain action or transformation (i.e., verb) is applied.
- 1992, Brad A. Myers, David C. Smith, & Bruce Horn, chapter 19, in Languages for Developing User Interfaces:
- Nouns are the data; verbs are the data transformations, and therefore verbs represent much of the complexity of systems.
- 2000, Jeff Raskin, The Humane Interface, page 59:
- You choose either (1) the verb (change font) first and then select the noun (the paragraph) to which the verb should apply or (2) the noun first and then apply the verb.
- 2005, Barbara J. Grosz, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, volume 149, number 4:
- Thus, in essence, the mouse provides a capability for picking among a set of nouns (for instance, the file to which to apply some action) and verbs (such as "edit" or "insert")
-
Usage notes
- (narrow sense) In English (and in many other languages), a noun can serve as the subject or object of a verb. For example, the English words table and computer are nouns. See Wikipedia’s article “Parts of speech”.
Synonyms
- name, nameword
- (sensu stricto) noun substantive, substantive noun, substantive, naming word
Hyponyms
- abstract noun
- adjectival noun
- appellative noun
- attributive noun
- collective noun
- common noun
- concrete noun
- count noun
- mass noun
- non-count noun
- noun of assemblage
- noun of multitude
- noun of number
- numeral noun
- plural noun
- proper noun
- tool noun
- uncount noun
- See Thesaurus:noun
Derived terms
- adnoun
- noun adjunct
- noun clause
- noun modifier
- noun numeral
- noun phrase
- pronoun
Related terms
- nominal
Translations
grammatical category (narrow sense)
|
grammatical category (broad sense)
|
See also
- countable
Verb
noun (third-person singular simple present nouns, present participle nouning, simple past and past participle nouned)
- (transitive) To convert a word to a noun.
- 1974, The Modern Schoolman, page 144:
- What is not clear is how the nouning of verbs supports Simon's assumed correspondence between mechanical designing and intentional human responses. Is it the very nouning of verbs which indicates that the above correspondence exists?
- 1992, Lewis Acrelius Froman, Language and Power: Books III, IV, and V:
- For example, that females are different from but equal to males is oxymoronic by virtue of the nouned status of female and male as kinds of persons.
- 2000, Andrew J. DuBrin, The complete idiot's guide to leadership:
- However, too much nouning makes you sound bureaucratic, immature, and verbally challenged. Top executives convert far fewer nouns into verbs than do workers at lower levels.
- 1974, The Modern Schoolman, page 144:
Translations
convert into a noun — see substantivise
See also
(converting into or using as another part of speech:)
- adjectivize/adjectivise, adjective, adjectify
- adverbialize/adverbialise, (rare) adverb
- nominalize/nominalise, substantivize/substantivise, noun, (rare) nounify, (very rare) substantive
- verbalize/verbalise, (colloquial) verb
References
noun on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Further reading
- noun at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- non-U
Chuukese
Determiner
noun
- third person singular possessive; his, hers, its (used with a special class of objects including living things)
- son of, daughter of
Related terms
Chuukese possessive determiners
| Small objects, concepts | Large objects, living things | Suffix | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | First person | ai | nei | -ei |
| Second person | omw, om | noum | -om | |
| Third person | an | noun | -an | |
| Plural | First person | äm (exclusive) ach (inclusive) | nöu̇m (exclusive) nöüch (inclusive) | -em (exclusive) -ach (inclusive) |
| Second person | ämi, ami | noumi | -emi | |
| Third person | ar | nour | -er |
Middle English
Alternative forms
- none, nown, nowne, noune
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman noun, non, nom, from Latin nōmen, a semantic loan from Koine Greek ὄνομα (ónoma). Doublet of name.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /nuːn/
Noun
noun (plural nounes)
- (grammar) noun (part of speech; a category of words including substantives or nouns in the strict sense and adjectives)
- An appellation.
Hyponyms
(grammar):
- noun substantyf
- noun abstract
- noune collectyf, nown collectif
- nowne appellatiue
- noun adiectyf
Descendants
- English: noun
References
- “nǒun(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-05-03.
Occitan
Alternative forms
- non
Etymology
From Latin non.
Adverb
noun
- (Mistralian) no
Old French
Noun
noun m (oblique plural nouns, nominative singular nouns, nominative plural noun)
- Alternative form of nom