Proper noun
A
proper noun is a noun that in its primary application refers to a unique entity, such as
London,
Jupiter,
Sarah, or
Microsoft, as distinguished from a
common noun, which usually refers to a class of entities, or non-unique instances of a certain class. Some proper nouns occur in plural form, and then they refer to
groups of entities considered as unique. Proper nouns can also occur in secondary applications, for example modifying nouns, or in the role of common nouns. The detailed definition of the term is problematic and to an extent governed by convention. A distinction is normally made in current linguistics between
proper nouns and
proper names. By this strict distinction, because the term
noun is used for a class of single words, only single-word proper names are proper nouns:
Peter and
Africa are both proper names and proper nouns; but
Peter the Great and
South Africa, while they are proper names, are not proper nouns. The term
common name is not much used to contrast with
proper name, but some linguists have used the term for that purpose.