What does article mean?
An article is most commonly understood as a written composition dealing with a particular subject, published in a newspaper, magazine, website, or scholarly journal. Articles range from brief news reports to long-form investigative features, and they are typically signed by their authors and organized under headings or sections. The word also has a precise grammatical meaning: articles are the short words "a", "an", and "the" that precede nouns to signal whether something is being mentioned for the first time (indefinite) or as something already known (definite). A third sense treats an article as a single item within a larger group, as in "an article of clothing". In law and formal documents, articles denote numbered clauses, such as those in a constitution. Derived from Latin articulus, meaning a small joint or division, the word carries the underlying idea of a distinct, separable part of a whole.
A written composition on a particular subject, published in a newspaper, magazine, journal, or online.
"He read an interesting article about space exploration this morning."
A grammatical determiner, such as "a", "an", or "the", placed before a noun to indicate its definiteness.
"Use "the" as the definite article when referring to a specific noun."
English has only two articles: the definite article "the" and the indefinite articles "a"/"an".
An individual item or object, especially one belonging to a set or category.
"Each article of luggage was carefully inspected at customs."
A distinct clause or section within a formal document, contract, or legal code.
"Article 3 of the treaty addresses border security."
Common in legal and constitutional texts.
Standard plural form used across all noun senses.
"The magazine publishes several articles each week."
The word for the humble words "a" and "the" comes from the same Latin root as "articulate" — both trace back to the idea of joining things together, joint by joint.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of article
Article derives from Latin articulus, a diminutive of artus meaning "joint", originally denoting a small joint or limb segment. The sense evolved through Medieval Latin to mean any distinct part or clause of a text, and English adopted the word via Old French around the late Middle Ages. Its grammatical use — naming the words "a", "an", and "the" — arose from the notion that these words divide and specify speech into definite parts. Cognates sharing the same root include articulate, articulation, and articular.
How article is actually used
As a countable noun, article takes regular plural forms. In legal contexts, an article may refer to a clause in a document or contract (as in "Article 15 of the Constitution"). The grammatical sense is usually discussed with the qualifier "definite" or "indefinite".
Easily confused with article
An article is a piece of writing or a grammatical determiner, while a particle is a minute fragment of matter or a small grammatical element such as "not" or "up".