proper noun
1
2.1
- noun
- /ˈprɒpər naʊn/
- Specialized
:
sustantivo propio
- Proper nouns includes words like Sofia and Bulgaria.
Examples
-
Granted, in the sentence "Camembert is a town in France," it is a proper noun.
Blog text (3) -
All that matters is that in the sentence it's a proper noun identifying a specific person.
Blog text (29) -
Pavo, can you give us examples of proper nouns?
-
When writing proper nouns, you capitalize the first letter.
-
The capital city, Paris, is an example of a proper noun.
-
In the sentence, "Alice visited the Louvre," the name "Alice" is a proper noun.
-
'Google' is a proper noun that refers to a specific technology company.
Synonyms
4
4.9
A name for a specific person, place, or thing that we write with a capital letter
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a noun that names a specific individual, place, or organization' is related to the constituents but depends on a specialized sense of 'proper' = 'particular/own' rather than the common B1 meaning 'suitable or correct.' Because the technical sense is partly lexicalized (and cross-linguistically common), a learner who knows both words may guess the expression's force but may not fully derive the exact grammatical meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Proper noun comes from the old use of proper meaning 'own' or 'special' and noun meaning a naming word. So a Proper noun is the name that 'belongs' to one person, place, or thing, and that's why we write it with a capital letter.