A noun ( Latin: nōmen , "name") [1] is a

word that functions as the name of

some specific thing or set of things,

such as living creatures, objects,

places, actions, qualities, states of

existence, or ideas. [2][note 1]

Linguistically , a noun is a member of a

large, open part of speech whose

members can occur as the main word

in the subject of a clause, the object of

a verb , or the object of a preposition .[3]

Lexical categories (parts of speech) are

defined in terms of the ways in which

their members combine with other

kinds of expressions. The syntactic

rules for nouns differ from language to

language. In English , nouns are those

words which can occur with articles

and attributive adjectives and can

function as the head of a noun phrase.