Adjectival noun (noun)

This article is about the use of adjectival noun in English and especially in inflected languages. For use in Japanese grammar, see adjectival noun (Japanese).

An adjectival noun refers to an adjective that functions as a noun. English examples include "the other", "the True", "the Irish", and "the rich and the poor".

Related concepts

A noun that functions as an adjective can be called an adjectival noun in English (e.g. Fowler [1]), but it is nowadays more often called a noun adjunct or attributive noun.

Adjectival noun may also refer to a noun that functions as an adjective, especially Japanese adjectival nouns.

German

In inflected languages like German, adjectival nouns are much more common however. German examples include "Bekannte(r)", "Angestellte(r)", and "Deutsche(r)".

Arabic

Adjectival nouns occur frequently in the Classical and Modern Standard Arabic. Examples include الإسلامية (Arabic: al-‘Islamiyyah‎), where "‘islamiyyah" is the adjective "Islamic", and "al-‘Islamiyyah" can be translated as "things Islamic."