ˈnau̇n noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English nowne, from Anglo-French noun name, noun, from Old French nun, non, nom, from Latin nomen — more at name
1. : a word that is the name of a subject of discourse (as a person, animal, plant, place, thing, substance, quality, idea, action, or state) and that in languages with grammatical number, case, and gender is inflected for number and case but has inherent gender
2. : a word except a pronoun used in a sentence as subject or object of a verb, as object of a preposition, as the predicate after a copula, or as a name in an absolute construction — see common noun , count noun , mass noun , proper noun