TERMIUM Plus^®

Record 1,  Textual support,  English

Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 DEF

A noun characteristically denoting in many languages a homogenous substance or a concept without subdivisions (sand, butter, beer, accuracy) distinguished from a grain of sand, a glass of beer having in this usage in English only the singular form. Contrast with "count noun".  3, record 1, English, - mass%20noun

Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 CONT

The term mass noun is used by some grammarians to denote nouns which do not usually form a plural, e.g., "sugar", "flour", "sand", "happiness", etc., or, if a plural does exist, the meaning of the plural is different from that of the singular, e.g., "sugars", "sands", as opposed to unit nouns which can be counted.  2, record 1, English, - mass%20noun

Record 1,  Textual support,  French

Record number: 1, Textual support number: 1 CONT

Une autre différence non négligeable entre «peu» et «un peu» s'explique par le fait que le dernier ne peut jamais être employé avec les noms dénombrables tandis que «peu de» s'emploie avec les noms dénombrables et non dénombrables.  1, record 1, French, - nom%20non%20d%C3%A9nombrable

Record 1,  Textual support,  Spanish