# noun

> English word · Noun · IPA /naʊn/ · frequency rank #12,816

## Definitions
1. A word that functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as person, animal, place, word, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality, or idea: one of the basic parts of speech in many languages, including English.
2. Either a word that can be used to refer to a person, animal, place, thing, phenomenon, substance, quality or idea, or a word that modifies or describes a previous word or its referent; a substantive or adjective, sometimes also including other parts of speech such as numeral or pronoun.
3. An object within a user interface to which a certain action or transformation (i.e., verb) is applied.

## Etymology
From Middle English noun, from Anglo-Norman noun, non, nom, from Latin nōmen (“name; noun”). The grammatical sense in Latin was a semantic loan from Koine Greek ὄνομα (ónoma). Doublet of name and nomen.

## Easily confused with
- **nu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nu)
- **now** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-now)
- **nov** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nov)
- **nut** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nut)
- **nun** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nun)
- **NYU** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nyu)
- **nuh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nuh)
- **nox** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nox)
- **Nur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nur)
- **nova** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nova)
- **nuns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nuns)
- **nous** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nous)
- **novi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-novi)
- **nouns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noun-vs-nouns)
- **NN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nn-vs-noun)
- **not** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/not-vs-noun)
- **non** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/non-vs-noun)
- **nor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nor-vs-noun)
- **nod** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nod-vs-noun)
- **nos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nos-vs-noun)

## Common misspellings (5)
`nnoun`, `nonu`, `nounn`, `nuon`, `onun`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/noun