noun
/naʊn/
noun
Origin
Latin
nomen — name
Overview
Meaning Now
- A word (other than a pronoun) used to identify any of a class of people, places, or things (common noun), or to name a particular one of these (proper noun).
Literal older meaning
name
Language path
Latin → Old French → Middle English → English
Earliest form
noun
Earliest period
14th century
Journey
The term enters English as a grammatical classification through the Latin 'nomen', which served both the general sense of 'name' and the grammatical sense of 'word designating an entity'.
Evolution
- Proto-Indo-European
*h₁nómn̥
“name”
- Latin
nomen
“name”
- Old French
non
“name, noun”
- Middle English
noun
“name of a thing or person”
borrowed from Old French
Connections
Word parts
noun
root
name
Related across languages
French
nom
name
Spanish
nombre
name
German
Name
name
Explore next
Related to noun
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.