# novel

Pronunciation: US say "NAH-vuhl" /ˈnɑvəl/; UK say "NO-vuhl" /ˈnɒvəl/

## Noun

1. An extended work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.
   - Simple: A long made-up story written in prose, longer than a novella.
   - _The novel follows three generations of a family across a century._
   - _Critics praised her debut novel for its intricate structure._

## Adjective

2. New and unlike anything known or done before, often in an interesting or original way.
   - Simple: New and different from anything that has been seen or done before.
   - _Researchers identified a novel strain that had never been recorded before._
   - _The factory adopted a novel process for recycling plastic waste._

## Noun

3. Something new or recently introduced; a novelty. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Something new or recently introduced.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A fable or short tale, especially one of many that together make up a larger work.
- (noun) A new law issued by a Roman emperor to supplement an existing code, especially one of Justinian's.

## Origin

**Meaning 2** — Latin novus ("new") had a diminutive, novellus ("new, fresh, young"), which became Old French novel ("new, fresh, recent") and then Middle English novel. Nouveau is a doublet of it.
**Meaning 1** — English borrowed it from Italian novella, a word that came from Latin novella, the feminine form of novellus. Novella is its doublet.
**Meaning 3** — Latin novella, the feminine form of novellus, passed through Old French novelle into Middle English, where it took the shape novel.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/novel (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).