Do you know what a common noun is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on common nouns, including the definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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November 14, 2021
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Common Questions
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What is a common noun?
According to 7ESL, a common noun is a word that names a general person, animal, place, thing, or idea. As opposed to proper nouns which name specific things or a specific person like The President of the United States of America, the days of the week, or a proper name, examples of common nouns are more general. There are thousands and thousands of words that fall under the category of common nouns. A specific city or mountain ranges would be considered a proper noun, while professions like an actress or lawyer would be a common noun. Even saying “a president” is a common noun while “the President” is a proper noun. All of the different types of nouns including abstract nouns, countable nouns, possessive nouns, a noun phrase, a verbal noun, collective nouns, and concrete nouns can be affected by modifiers like adjectives in the singular form and plural form like how verbs can be modified by adverbs.
Many different languages also contain words that mean common noun. You may notice that some of these translations of common noun look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of common noun is provided by Word Sense.
- Faroese: felagsnavn (neut.)
- Japanese: 普通名詞 (ふつうめいし, futsūmeishi)
- Thai: สามานยนาม
- Armenian: հասարակ անուն
- Kalmyk: шишлң нерн
- Scottish Gaelic: ainmear gnàthach (masc.)
- Turkish: cins isim
- German: Gattungsname (masc.), Gattungsbezeichnung (fem.), Appellativ (neut.), Appellativum (neut.)
- Azeri: umumi isim
- Khmer: សាធារណនាម (sa thea rak nak neam), នាមសាធារណ៍ (neam sa thea)
- Spanish: nombre común (masc.), sustantivo común (masc.)
- Romanian: nume comun (neut.)
- Bulgarian: съществително нарицателно
- Icelandic: samnafn (neut.)
- Occitan: nom comun (masc.)
- Russian: и́мя нарица́тельное (neut.)
- French: nom appellatif (masc.), nom commun (masc.)
- Portuguese: substantivo comum (masc.)
- Esperanto: komuna substantivo
- Danish: appellativ, fællesnavn
- Korean: 보통명사 (普通名詞)
- Norwegian: appellativ, fellesnavn, samnamn
- Latvian: sugas vārds (masc.)
- Hungarian: köznév
- Czech: obecné jméno (neut.)
- Finnish: yleisnimi, appellatiivi
- Dutch: soortnaam (masc.)
- Polish: rzeczownik pospolity (masc.)
- Mandarin: 普通名詞, 普通名词 (pǔtōng míngcí)
- Swedish: appellativ
- Georgian: საზოგადო სახელი, საზოგადო არსებითი სახელი
- Greek: κοινό ουσιαστικό (neut.)
- Bashkir: уртаҡ исем
- Italian: nome comune (masc.)
What are examples of common nouns?
A common noun can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are many examples of common nouns from 7 ESL that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Try to use the term common noun today or notice when someone else is using a common noun.
Examples of proper nouns use uppercase letters to start and are things like South Africa, January, November, Monday, people’s names, a specific planet, etc. whereas common nouns are generic things and non-specific people that use lowercase letters to start:
- Cat
- knockoff/knockoffs
- Jewelry
- Laughter
- Trend
- Love
- Everything
- Battlefield
- Cap
- Hallway
- veto/vetoes
- Golf
- Danger
- Honey
- potato/potatoes
- Adulthood
- Hardware
- belief/beliefs
- Bermudas
- Cow
- Apple
- Grass
- leaf/leaves
- Bacon
- Loneliness
- Glass
- Ringworm
- Iron
- School
- Blender
- Distribution
- Picture
- house/houses
- Growth
- elf/elves
- Self-control
- Photocopy
- roof/roofs
- Bakery
- Swarm
- Dog
- Relaxation
- Meat
- bag/bags
- Boyfriend
- Hatred
- Fame
- Airline
- Hatred
- Pancake
- Hate
- House
- piano/pianos
- Satisfaction
- tomato/tomatoes
- Access
- Bow
- Liberty
- Fan
- photo/photos
- Wariness
- Education
- loaf/loaves
- Law
- Cotton
- Coffee
- Calm
- thief/thieves
- Warmth
- Classmate
- Botany
- Snowboard
- Staff
- calf/calves
- Bridge
- Daredevil
- Emotions
- Foot
- Aunt
- Desk
- Childhood
- Waitress
- Fish
- Gang
- party/parties
- Aircraft
- Gas station
- Bucket
- scarf/scarves
- Teapot
- Boat
- Maturity
- Awe
- Fall
- Awareness
- dog/dogs
- Yourself
- Horsefly
- Wealth
- Football
- Set
- Countdown
- Moonlight
- Briefcase
- Cleverness
- Courage
- Tiredness
- Kindness
- Principle
- Chaos
- Inflation
- Music
- Mob
- Everybody
- Fireworks
- Clarity
- Childhood
- Shoal
- Crest
- Freedom
- cuff/cuffs
- Book
- Teardrop
- Skyscraper
- Armchair
- Armchair
- Inside
- Beauty
- Timetable
- Tolerance
- lady/ladies
- Designer
- Light
- Union
- Innocence
- Cheeks
- Sunshine
- Dancing
- Houseboat
- Cabinet
- Jealousy
- Jam
- Charlie
- Flock
- Unreality
- Baby
- Orchestra
- Confusion
- Zoo
- domino/dominoes
- Friend
- Comeback
- Hate
- Compassion
- Butterfly
- Crime
- Business
- Victory
- Need
- knife/knives
- Cooker
- Alcohol
- Sanity
- kiss/kisses
- Blouse
- Justice
- Student
- life/lives
- Speed
- Pain
- Background
- Happiness
- Hunger
- Dragonfly
- echo/echoes
- Herd
- Clothing
- Intelligence
- Cupboard
- Thunderstorm
- dish/dishes
- Group
- Series
- Pile
- Luck
- table/tables
- cherry/cherries
- Tree
- Teacup
- Candy
- Drum
- Dentist
- Sandcastle
- wife/wives
- car/cars
- Panel
- Book
- Summary
- wolf/wolves
- country/countries
- Bed
- Heap
- Film
- Flag
- family/families
- chef/chefs
- Coffee
- halo/halos
- Mall
- Bunch
- Balloon
- Guest
- Detective
- Beans
- Customer
- Box
- Psychology
- chief/chiefs
- Deer
- witch/witches
- Contentment
- Myself
- Notebook
- Stack
- Confidence
- Overdue
- Bear
- Shower
- Board
- Airport
- Handcuff
- Car
- Intelligence
- judge/judges
- Opportunity
- Troupe
- video/videos
- Ball
- Desktop
- Belief
- Crowd
- Equipment
- Freezer
- Chopstick
- Hair
- Jewelery
- Strictness
- Donkey
- Crew
- mosquito/mosquitoes
- Joy
- Partnership
- shelf/shelves
- Linguistics
- Hamburger
- Daydream
- Data
- Hydrogen
- Frog
- Greenhouse
- stereo/stereos
- Haircut
- puppy/puppies
- Industry
- hoof/hooves
- Choir
- Opinion
- Nurture
- Duty
- Economics
- Raincoat
- Strength
- Reality
- Pack
- Importance
- Dresser
- Chest
- volcano/volcanoes
- Rattlesnake
- soprano/sopranos
- Luxury
- Footprint
- Insanity
- hero/heroes
- holiday/holidays
- Homework
- Blood
- half/halves
- radio/radios
- Dirt
- Night sky
- Chair
Overall, the word common noun refers to anything that is not a proper noun. A common noun starts with a lowercase letter unlike a proper noun, and refers to something that is general. A proper noun refers to something that is specific, whether that is a person, specific place or geographic location or feature, a brand, something that has a specific job title, and more. See if you can spot people using common and proper nouns today!
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