What does noun mean?
A noun is a grammatical word or word group used to identify and name people, places, objects, ideas, events, qualities, and other entities. Common examples include teacher, London, table, freedom, and arrival. Nouns can be classified in several ways: a proper noun names a particular person or place, while a common noun names a general class; a count noun has singular and plural forms, while an uncountable noun is normally not counted in that way. Concrete nouns refer to things that can be perceived, whereas abstract nouns refer to ideas or qualities. In a clause, a noun may serve as the subject, as the object of a verb or preposition, or as a complement. The word entered English through French and ultimately comes from Latin nomen, meaning “name,” reflecting the noun’s central identifying function.
nounA noun is a word or word group that names a person, place, thing, idea, event, quality, or other entity. In grammar, nouns can function as the subject or object of a clause and may be common, proper, countable, uncountable, concrete, or abstract.
- A word or word group that names a person, place, thing, idea, event, quality, or other entity and functions as a subject, object, or complement in a grammatical construction.
"The sentence begins with a proper noun, followed by an abstract noun and a verb."
"In “The child found a bird,” “child” and “bird” are nouns, while “found” is a verb."
"The linguistics student studied how nouns change when they move between singular and plural forms."
The plural is used when referring to several members of the grammatical category or to multiple examples of it.
"The exercise asks students to identify the nouns in each sentence."
The word “noun” literally means “name”: it comes from Latin nomen, the same root behind name, nominal, and denomination.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does noun come from?
The English word noun came through French from Latin nomen, meaning “name.” Latin formed many related words, including nominal, nominate, and denomination, all of which preserve the idea of naming or being named. The modern grammatical sense developed from the older sense of a name or designation and is now one of the principal parts of speech in English.
Related word forms
How noun is actually used
In educational and grammatical contexts, noun may refer either to an individual word or to a larger grammatical category. The term is standard in both British and American English.
Easily confused with noun
A noun names or identifies something, whereas a verb expresses an action, occurrence, or state.