in *Grammar*, denotes a particle used in most languages for the declining of nouns, and denoting the several cases and genders thereof. The use of articles arises chiefly from this, that in languages which have no different terminations to express the different states and circumstances of nouns, there is something required to supply that office. The Latins have no articles; but the Greeks, and most of the modern languages, have had recourse to them, for fixing and ascertaining the vague signification of common and appellative names. The Greeks have their ὅς, the Italians their il, lo, and la; the French their le, la, and les; the Germans their der, das, dat. The English also have two articles, a and the, which being prefixed to substantives, apply their general signification to some particular things. Some grammarians make the article a distinct part of speech; others will have it a pronoun, and others a noun adjective. See *Grammar*.