article

Article is a term with several related meanings in language, publishing, and law. It generally denotes a distinct unit within a larger whole: a written piece published in a periodical, a grammatical determiner that accompanies a noun, or a provision in a formal document. The common thread is that an article denotes a specific part of a larger structure.

Grammatical articles are determiners that accompany nouns to express definiteness or indefiniteness. The definite article in English is the, used to indicate a specific referent known to speaker and listener. Indefinite articles a and an introduce non-specific or new referents; a precedes consonant sounds, an precedes vowel sounds. Some languages have no articles; others have more elaborate systems.

In publishing, an article is a piece of writing on a particular topic published in a newspaper, magazine, or journal. It can be news reporting, analysis, or scholarly research. In academia, articles are common channels for presenting new findings and are often subject to peer review.

In law and organization, article refers to a division or clause in a treaty, contract, or statute, commonly numbered (Article 1, Article 2, etc.). The term also appears in phrases such as articles of incorporation, which establish a company's legal existence, and articles of clothing, referring to individual items in an inventory or catalog.

Etymology traces article to Latin articulus, a small part or joint. The word's use across languages reflects broader differences in how definiteness is encoded, with some languages adopting articles, others using demonstratives, case systems, or word order to convey similar meanings.