What is a Noun? Nouns make up the largest class of words in most languages, including English. A noun is a word that refers to a thing ( book ), a person ( Betty Crocker ), an animal ( cat ), a place ( Omaha ), a quality ( softness ), an idea ( justice ), or an action ( yodeling ). It's usually a single word, but not always: cake , shoes , school bus , and time and a half are all nouns. Types of Nouns Nouns form a large proportion of English Vocabulary and they come in a wide variety of types. Countable Noun - Can be counted (Pencil/pencils, apple/apples, etc.) Uncountable Noun - Cannot be counted (Music, milk, food, snow, etc.) Compound Noun - Made up of two or more smaller words (Textbook, seafood, snowball, etc.) Collective Noun - Refer to a group of things as one whole (Audience, group, family, bunch, etc.) Singular Noun - Refer to one person, place, things or idea (Dog, fish, ship, hero, etc.) Plural Noun ...