Note

How to spell note

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce note

What does note mean?

1. nounA short written record made to help remember something or to pass on information.
2. verbTo notice or pay careful attention to something.
3. nounA single musical sound of a particular pitch, or the written symbol that represents it.
4. nounA piece of paper money issued by a bank or government.

Note in a sentence

• noun

  She left a note on the fridge reminding everyone about dinner.

• verb

  Please note the change of address before you send the invoice.

• noun

  The singer held the final note for an impressive length of time.

• noun

  He handed the cashier a twenty pound note to pay for the groceries.

• noun

  He scribbled a quick note during the meeting so he would not forget the deadline.

• verb

  Travellers should note that the museum closes early on Sundays.

Where does note come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin nota, which meant a mark, a sign, or a brief written remark, and to the related verb notare, meaning to mark or to set down. It entered English in the medieval period through Old French, where note already carried the linked ideas of a written record and a musical tone. The musical sense developed because early scribes literally marked pitches as signs on a page, so a single tone was simply a note that had been written down. The same Latin root sits behind a whole family of relatives in English, including notice, notable, notation, and annotate, all of which keep the idea of marking or observing. The spelling has stayed pleasingly simple, a short word whose silent final e quietly lengthens the vowel.

How the word is built

• note (from Latin nota: a mark, sign, or written remark)