Standard Lemma guide

noumenon

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnuːmənɒn/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnaʊmənɒn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈnumənɑn/

1

noun

Meaning 1

A thing as it is independent of any conceptualization or perception by the human mind, postulated by practical reason but existing in a condition which is in principle unknowable and unexperienceable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: thing-in-itself

Antonyms: phenomenon

2

noun

Meaning 2

the intellectual conception of a thing as it is in itself, not as it is known through perception

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: thing-in-itself

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: content, cognitive content, mental object

History

Etymology

From German Noumenon, from Ancient Greek νοούμενον (nooúmenon, “thing that is known”), passive present participle of νοέω (noéō, “I know”).

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: نُومِينُون (nūmenon) — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Catalan: noümen — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Czech: noumenon — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Estonian: noumen — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Estonian: noumenon — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Finnish: noumeeni — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • French: noumène — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Galician: nóumeno — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • German: Noumenon — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Greek: νοούμενο (nooúmeno) — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Italian: noumeno — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Japanese: ヌーメノン (nūmenon) — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Korean: 누메논 (numenon) — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Lithuanian: noumenas — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Polish: noumen — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Polish: noumenon — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Polish: rzecz sama w sobie — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Portuguese: númeno — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Romanian: numen — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Russian: ноу́мен (noúmen) — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Serbo-Croatian: ноумѐно̄н — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Serbo-Croatian: noumènōn — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Spanish: noúmeno — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Turkish: numen — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself
  • Ukrainian: ноу́мен (noúmen) — thing as it is independent of any conceptualization — see also thing-in-itself