Definition: A noun is the name of a thing. (From the Latin, meaning name.)

The common definition of a noun is that it is that part of speech used to identify a person, place, or thing. This definition could be made even more simple: a noun is the name of a thing — any thing. Nouns identify the substance of the world around us, whether visible or invisible, whether concrete or abstract, whether real or imagined: people, places, activities, relationships, feelings, tastes, smells, sights, sounds, thoughts, emotions, pleasures, aspirations, despairs, insects, and monsters.

One easy way to determine whether a word is a noun is to ask whether it can be described by an adjective, such as 'big' or 'small' or 'good' or 'bad.' If it can be, then it is a noun (or something that is acting like a noun).

Sentences generally have more nouns than any other part of speech. But not all nouns are equally important in making sense of a sentence. The skeleton of a sentence is composed of the subject, predicate, direct object and indirect object. Translating the verb and these three nouns first generally will give one the basic sense of even the most difficult sentence.