novel

See also: Novel, nóvel, növel, nővel, and novèl

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: nŏvʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈnɒvəl/, [ˈnɒvl̩]
• (US) enPR: nävʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈnɑvəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: novel
• Rhymes: -ɒvəl

Etymology 1

From Middle English novel, from Old French novel (“new, fresh, recent, recently made or done, strange, rare”) (modern nouvel, nouveau), from Latin novellus (“new, fresh, young, modern”), diminutive of novus (“new”). Doublet of nouveau.

Adjective

novel (comparative more novel, superlative most novel)

1. Newly made, formed or evolved; having no precedent; of recent origin; new.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:new

2. Original, especially in an interesting way; new and striking; not of the typical or ordinary type.

   Synonym: unusual

Usage notes

• Said of ideas, ways, etc.

Derived terms

• novelly

Related terms

• novelty

Translations

new, original, especially in an interesting way

• Arabic: مُسْتَجِدّ (mustajidd)
• Asturian: novedosu
• Bulgarian: нов (bg) (nov), необикновен (bg) (neobiknoven)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 新穎／新颖 (san¹ wing⁶)

  Mandarin: 新穎／新颖 (zh) (xīnyǐng)

• Czech: originální (cs), neotřelý
• Dutch: nieuw (nl)
• Finnish: uusi (fi), uudenlainen
• French: nouveau (fr) m, nouvelle (fr) f, original (fr) m, originale (fr) f
• German: neuartig (de), neu (de)
• Greek: πρωτότυπος (el) m (protótypos)

  Ancient: καινοπρεπής (kainoprepḗs), νεοχμός (neokhmós)

• Hindi: नया (hi) (nayā)
• Hungarian: újfajta (hu)
• Ido: nova (io)
• Italian: nuovo (it), originale (it)
• Japanese: 新奇 (ja) (しんき, shinki), 新型の (ja) (shingata no)
• Latin: novellus m
• Macedonian: нов m (nov), несекојдневен (nesekojdneven)
• Polish: nowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: novo (pt) m, nova (pt) f, original (pt) c
• Romanian: nou (ro) m, original (ro) m, original (ro)
• Russian: но́вый (ru) (nóvyj), оригина́льный (ru) (originálʹnyj)
• Spanish: novedoso (es)
• Swahili: -pya
• Telugu: వినూత్న (vinūtna)
• Thai: แนวใหม่
• Turkish: yeni (tr)

Etymology 2

Front page of Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, a notable example of a novel

Borrowed from Italian novella, from Latin novella, feminine of novellus. Doublet of novella.

Noun

novel (plural novels)

1. A work of prose fiction, longer than a novella. [from 17th c.]
   • 1964, Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 151:

     Since I had started to break down all my writing and get rid of all facility and try to make instead of describe, writing had been wonderful to do. But it was very difficult, and I did not know how I would ever write anything as long as a novel. It often took me a full morning of work to write a paragraph.

2. (historical) A fable; a short tale, especially one of many making up a larger work. [from 16th c.]
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 2, member 4:

     merry tales […] such as the old woman told of Psyche in Apuleius, Boccace novels, and the rest, quarum auditione pueri delectantur, senes narratione, which some delight to hear, some to tell, all are well pleased with.

Derived terms

• airport novel
• anti-novel
• dime novel
• e-novel
• graphic novel
• historical novel
• I-novel
• kinetic novel
• light novel
• non-fiction novel
• nonfiction novel
• novelisation, novelization
• novelist
• Russian novel effect
• sensation novel
• silver fork novel
• trunk novel
• Twitter novel
• visual novel

 

Descendants

• → Bengali: নভেল (nobhel)
• → Scottish Gaelic: nobhail
• → Welsh: nofel

Translations

work of prose fiction

• Afrikaans: roman (af)
• Albanian: roman (sq) m, novelë (sq) f
• Arabic: رِوَايَة (ar) f (riwāya)
• Armenian: վեպ (hy) (vep), նորավեպ (hy) (noravep), նովել (hy) (novel)
• Asturian: novela f
• Azerbaijani: roman (az), novella
• Basque: eleberri, nobela
• Belarusian: рама́н m (ramán), навэ́ла f (navéla), апо́весць f (apóvjescʹ)
• Bengali: উপন্যাস (bn) (uponnaś)
• Bhojpuri: उपन्यास (upanyās)
• Bulgarian: рома́н (bg) m (román), нове́ла (bg) f (novéla)
• Burmese: ဝတ္ထု (my) (wathtu.)
• Carpathian Rusyn: рома́н m (román)
• Catalan: novel·la (ca) f, romanç (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 小說／小说 (siu² syut³)

  Dungan: щёфә (xi͡ofə)

  Eastern Min: 小說／小说 (siēu-siók)

  Hakka: 小說／小说 (séu-sot)

  Hokkien: 小說／小说 (zh-min-nan) (sió-soat)

  Mandarin: 小說／小说 (zh) (xiǎoshuō)

  Wu: 小說／小说 (⁵shiau-seq)

• Czech: román (cs) m, novela (cs) f
• Danish: roman (da) c
• Dutch: roman (nl) m, novelle (nl) f
• Esperanto: romano
• Estonian: romaan (et), novell (et)
• Faroese: skaldsøga f
• Finnish: romaani (fi)
• French: roman (fr) m
• Galician: novela (gl) f
• Georgian: რომანი (ka) (romani), ნოველა (novela)
• German: Roman (de) m, Novelle (de) f
• Greek: μυθιστόρημα (el) n (mythistórima), νουβέλα (el) f (nouvéla)
• Hebrew: רוֹמָן (he) m (román)
• Hindi: कथा (hi) f (kathā), कहानी (hi) f (kahānī), उपन्यास (hi) m (upanyās), नावेल (hi) m (nāvel)
• Hungarian: regény (hu)
• Icelandic: skáldsaga f
• Indonesian: novel (id)
• Interlingua: romance
• Irish: úrscéal, nóibhille
• Italian: romanzo (it) m, novella (it) f
• Japanese: 小説 (ja) (しょうせつ, shōsetsu)
• Kannada: ಕಾದಂಬರಿ (kn) (kādambari)
• Kashubian: pòwiesc f
• Kazakh: роман (kk) (roman), повесть (povest), новелла (novella)
• Khmer: ប្រលោមលោក (km) (prɑlaom look), រ៉ូម៉ង់ (roumɑng)
• Korean: 소설(小說) (ko) (soseol)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: roman (ku)

• Kyrgyz: роман (roman), новелла (novella), повесть (povest)
• Lao: ເລື່ອງສັ້ນ (lư̄ang san)
• Latin: fābula Rōmānēnsis f, fābula Mīlēsia f, mythistoria f
• Latvian: romāns m, novele f
• Ligurian: cónto, racónto
• Lithuanian: romanas m, novelė f
• Macedonian: роман (mk) m (roman), нове́ла f (novéla)
• Malay: novel, roman (ms) (obsolete)
• Maori: pakimaero
• Marathi: कादंबरी (mr) f (kādambrī)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: роман (mn) (roman), тууж (mn) (tuuž)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: roman (no) m

  Nynorsk: roman m

• Oromo: asoosama
• Pashto: ناول (ps) m (nāwəl), رومان (ps) m (romān)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: رُمان (fa) (român)

• Polish: powieść (pl) f, nowela (pl) f
• Portuguese: romance (pt) f, novela (pt) f
• Romanian: roman (ro) n, nuvelă (ro) f
• Russian: (a rather large novel) рома́н (ru) m (román), по́весть (ru) f (póvestʹ), нове́лла (ru) f (novɛ́lla)
• Scottish Gaelic: nobhail f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ро̀ма̄н m, новѐла f

  Roman: ròmān (sh) m, novèla (sh) f

• Sinhalese: නවකතාව (nawakatāwa)
• Slovak: román m, novela f
• Slovene: roman (sl) m, novela f
• Spanish: novela (es) f, romance (es) m
• Swahili: riwaya (sw)
• Swedish: roman (sv) c
• Tagalog: nobela, akdang-buhay, kathambuhay
• Tajik: роман (roman), новелла (novella), қисса (tg) (qissa), ҳикоя (hikoya), нақл (tg) (naql)
• Tatar: роман (roman), новелла (nowella)
• Telugu: నవల (te) (navala)
• Thai: นวนิยาย (th) (ná-wá-ní-yaai), นิยาย (th) (ní-yaai)
• Turkish: roman (tr)
• Turkmen: roman
• Ukrainian: рома́н m (román), нове́ла (uk) f (novéla), по́вість (uk) m (póvistʹ)
• Urdu: ناوِل m (nāvil)
• Uyghur: رومان (roman)
• Uzbek: roman (uz), qissa (uz), povest (uz), novella (uz)
• Vietnamese: tiểu thuyết (vi) (小說)
• Welsh: nofel (cy) f
• Yiddish: ראָמאַן m (roman)

Etymology 3

From Middle English novel, from Old French novelle, from Latin novella, feminine of novellus.

Noun

novel (plural novels)

1. (obsolete) A novelty; something new. [15th–18th c.]
   • 1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 7:

     Libum is a cake made of Honey (sugar is a nouvelle, since the discovery of America), meale and oyle.

Etymology 4

Borrowed from Latin novella, feminine of novellus.

Noun

novel (plural novels)

1. (classical studies, historical) A new legal constitution in ancient Rome. [from 17th c.]
   • 1979, Jeffrey Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages, 476–752, page 15:

     The normal and natural relationship of emperor and churchman was summed up by Justinian in one of his novels […]

Anagrams

• Loven, Venlo

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch novelle, from Italian novella, from Latin novella, feminine of novellus. Doublet of novela and novelet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈnovɛl]
• Rhymes: -vɛl, -ɛl, -l
• Hyphenation: no‧vèl

Noun

novel (first-person possessive novelku, second-person possessive novelmu, third-person possessive novelnya)

1. (literature) novel: a work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.

   Synonym: roman

Hyponyms

• novela
• novelet

 

Derived terms

• novelkan
• pernovelan

 

• novel grafis
• novel polifonik
• novel web

 

Related terms

• novelis

 

Further reading

• “novel” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Middle English

Noun

novel

1. Alternative form of navel

Old French

Alternative forms

• nuvel (Anglo-Norman)

Etymology

From Latin novellus, from novus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nuˈvɛl/

Adjective

novel m (oblique and nominative feminine singular novele)

1. new

Declension

Declension of novel

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	noveus, novex or novels	novele	novel
	Oblique	novel			novele	novel
Plural	Subject	novel	noveles		novel
	Oblique	noveus, novex or novels			noveles	novel

Antonyms

• viel, ancien

Related terms

• novele
• novelté

Descendants

• Middle French: nouveau
  • French: nouveau
    • Haitian Creole: nouvo
    • Mauritian Creole: nouvo
    • Seychellois Creole: nouvo
    • → English: nouveau
• Norman: nouvieau
• Walloon: novea
• → Middle English: novel
  • English: novel (“new”)

Old Occitan

Alternative forms

• novelh

Etymology

From Latin novellus. Compare Old French novel.

Adjective

novel m (feminine singular novela, masculine plural novels, feminine plural novelas)

1. new

Descendants

• Occitan: novèu, navèth, novèl

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Catalan novell, from Latin novellus. Doublet of novillo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /noˈbel/ [noˈβ̞el]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: no‧vel

Adjective

novel m or f (masculine and feminine plural noveles)

1. novel, new

Noun

novel m or f by sense (plural noveles)

1. newbie, green

Related terms

• nuevo

 

Further reading

• “novel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28