Noun

== Classification ==
Nouns can have a number of different properties and are often sub-categorized based on various of these criteria, depending on their occurrence in a language. Nouns may be classified according to [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] properties such as which [[prefix]]es or [[suffix]]es they take, and also their relations in [[syntax]]&nbsp;– how they combine with other words and expressions of various types. 

Many such classifications are language-specific, given the obvious differences in syntax and morphology. In English for example, it might be noted that nouns are words that can co-occur with definite articles (as stated at the start of this article), but this could not apply in [[Russian language|Russian]], which has no definite articles.

=== Gender ===
{{main|Grammatical gender}}

In some languages common and proper nouns have grammatical gender, typically masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender of a noun (as well as its number and case, where applicable) will often require [[agreement (linguistics)|agreement]] in words that modify or are used along with it. In [[French language|French]] for example, the singular form of the definite article is ''le'' for masculine nouns and ''la'' for feminine; adjectives and certain verb forms also change (sometimes with the simple addition of {{nowrap|''-e''}} for feminine). Grammatical gender often correlates with the form of the noun and the inflection pattern it follows; for example, in both [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Romanian language|Romanian]] most nouns ending in&nbsp;''-a'' are feminine. Gender can also correlate with the [[sex]] or [[social gender]] of the noun's referent, particularly in the case of nouns denoting people (and sometimes animals), though with exceptions (the feminine French noun ''personne'' can refer to a male or a female person).

In Modern English, even common nouns like ''hen'' and ''princess'' and proper nouns like ''Alicia'' do not have grammatical gender (their femininity has no relevance in syntax), though they denote persons or animals of a specific sex. The gender of a pronoun must be appropriate for the item referred to: "The ''girl'' said the ''ring'' was from ''her'' new ''boyfriend'', but ''he'' denied ''it'' was from ''him''" (three nouns; and three gendered pronouns: or four, if this ''her'' is counted as a [[English possessive#Pronouns|possessive pronoun]]).

=== Proper and common nouns ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Czech language]] -->
{{anchor|Proper nouns and common nouns|reason=Old, redundant section heading; has incoming links to it.}}
{{main|Proper noun}}

A ''proper noun'' (sometimes called a ''proper name'', though the two terms normally have different meanings) is a noun that represents a unique entity (''India'', ''[[Pegasus]]'', ''[[Jupiter]]'', ''[[Confucius]]'', ''[[Pequod (Moby-Dick)|Pequod]]'') – as distinguished from ''common nouns'' (or '''appellative nouns'''), which describe a class of entities (''country'', ''animal'', ''planet'', ''person'', ''ship'').<ref>{{harvnb|Lester|Beason|2005| page = 4}}</ref> In Modern English, most proper nouns – unlike most common nouns – are capitalized regardless of context (''Albania'', ''Newton'', ''Pasteur'', ''America''), as are many of the forms that are derived from them (the common noun in "he's an ''Albanian''"; the adjectival forms in "he's of ''Albanian'' heritage" and "''Newtonian'' physics", but not in "''pasteurized'' milk"; the second verb in "they sought to ''Americanize'' us").

=== Countable nouns and mass nouns ===
{{Main|Count noun|Mass noun}}

''Count nouns'' or ''countable nouns'' are common nouns that can take a [[plural]], can combine with [[numeral system|numerals]] or counting [[Quantifiers (linguistics)|quantifiers]] (e.g., ''one'', ''two'', ''several'', ''every'', ''most''), and can take an indefinite article such as ''a'' or ''an'' (in languages that have such articles). Examples of count nouns are ''chair'', ''nose'', and ''occasion''.

''Mass nouns'' or ''uncountable'' (''non-count'') ''nouns'' differ from count nouns in precisely that respect: they cannot take plurals or combine with number words or the above type of quantifiers. For example, the forms ''a furniture'' and ''three furnitures'' are not used – even though ''pieces'' of furniture can be counted. The distinction between mass and count nouns does not primarily concern their corresponding referents but more how the nouns ''present'' those entities.<ref>[[Manfred Krifka|Krifka, Manfred]]. 1989. "Nominal Reference, Temporal Constitution and Quantification in Event Semantics". In R. Bartsch, J. van Benthem, P. von Emde Boas (eds.), Semantics and Contextual Expression, Dordrecht: Foris Publication.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Borer|2005}}</ref>

Many nouns have both countable and uncountable uses; for example, ''soda'' is countable in "give me three sodas", but uncountable in "he likes soda".

=== Collective nouns ===
{{Main|Collective noun}}

''Collective nouns'' are nouns that – even when they are treated in their morphology and syntax as [[Grammatical number|singular]] – refer to ''groups'' consisting of more than one individual or entity. Examples include ''committee'', ''government'', and ''police''. In English these nouns may be followed by a singular or a plural verb and referred to by a singular or plural pronoun, the singular being generally preferred when referring to the body as a unit and the plural often being preferred, especially in British English, when emphasizing the individual members.<ref name="Gowers 2014">{{harvnb|Gowers|2014|pages=189–190}}</ref> Examples of acceptable and unacceptable use given by Gowers in ''Plain Words'' include:<ref name="Gowers 2014"/>
{{block indent|"A committee ''was'' appointed to consider this subject." (singular)}}
{{block indent|"The committee ''were'' unable to agree." (plural)}}
{{block indent|* "The committee were of one mind when I sat in on them." (unacceptable use of plural)}}

=== Concrete nouns and abstract nouns ===
{{Further|Physical body|Abstract object}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}}
''Concrete nouns'' refer to [[physical bodies|physical entities]] that can, in principle at least, be observed by at least one of the [[sense]]s (''chair'', ''apple'', ''Janet'', ''atom''), as items supposed to exist in the physical world. ''Abstract nouns'', on the other hand, refer to [[abstract object]]s: ideas or concepts (''justice'', ''anger'', ''solubility'', ''duration'').

Some nouns have both concrete and abstract meanings: ''art'' usually refers to something abstract ("Art is important in human culture"), but it can also refer to a concrete item ("I put my daughter's art up on the fridge"). A noun might have a literal (concrete) and also a figurative (abstract) meaning: "a brass ''key''" and "the ''key'' to success"; "a ''block'' in the pipe" and "a mental ''block''". Similarly, some abstract nouns have developed etymologically by figurative extension from literal roots (''drawback'', ''fraction'', ''holdout'', ''uptake'').

Many abstract nouns in English are formed by adding a suffix (''-ness'', ''-ity'', ''-ion'') to adjectives or verbs (''happiness'' and ''serenity'' from the adjectives ''happy'' and ''serene''; ''circulation'' from the verb ''circulate'').

=== Alienable vs. inalienable nouns ===
{{Main|Inalienable possession}}
Illustrating the wide range of possible classifying principles for nouns, the [[Awa language (Papua New Guinea)|Awa language]] of [[Papua New Guinea]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://glossary.sil.org/term/inalienable-noun |title=Inalienable Noun |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=3 December 2015 |publisher=[[SIL International]] |access-date= 6 February 2020}}</ref> regiments nouns according to how ''ownership'' is assigned: as alienable possession or [[Inalienable possession|inalienable]] possession. An alienably possessed item (a tree, for example) can exist even without a possessor. But inalienably possessed items are necessarily associated with their possessor and are referred to differently, for example with nouns that function as kin terms (meaning "father", etc.), body-part nouns (meaning "shadow", "hair", etc.), or part–whole nouns (meaning "top", "bottom", etc.).