noun
UK[naʊn]US[naʊn]
n
a word that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance, or quality
Etymology
The word 'noun' entered English via Anglo-Norman French 'noun', a variant of Old French 'nom'. Its ultimate source is the Latin 'nomen', meaning 'name'. This Latin term descends from the Proto-Indo-European root h₁nómn̥, which carried the same fundamental meaning. The semantic journey is direct and logical: a noun is, in essence, the 'name' given to any person, place, or thing, preserving the core concept of naming from its ancient origins into its precise grammatical function in modern English.
Analysis
The word 'noun' is a simplex loanword from Anglo-Norman French. It is derived from the Latin 'nomen', meaning 'name'. The Latin term itself originates from the Proto-Indo-European root h₁nómn̥, also meaning 'name'.
Examples
In the sentence "The cat sat on the mat," the words 'cat' and 'mat' are both nouns.
"London" and "happiness" are examples of a proper noun and an abstract noun, respectively.
You can often identify a noun by seeing if you can put 'the', 'a', or 'an' in front of it.