An individual word can function as more than one part of speech when used in different. The part of speech indicates how the word functions in meaning as well as grammatically within the sentence. A gerund is the -ing form of a verb used as a noun. There are eight parts of speech in the English language: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. Verbs are words that designate actions or states of being. The sense "satisfied" of Latin contentus presumably developed from the more literal meaning "self-contained, restrained, held in." This is still somewhat apparent in early uses, as in this passage from Plautus's Poenulus: "ego faxo posthac di deaeque ceteri / contentiores mage erunt atque avidi minus, / quom scibunt, ut Veneri adierit leno manum." ("I will make the other gods and goddesses more restrained ( contentiores) and less greedy when they know how the procurer played a trick on Venus. Nouns are words that designate persons, places, things, and ideas.
Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French, going back to Latin contentus "satisfied," from past participle of continēre "to hold together, restrain, have as contents" - more at contain So, the word people, meaning the unit of people formed by a national group, has a meaning different from people, meaning different individuals.Peoplethe unitis a singular count noun, as you can see from 'a great people,' and a plural count noun, as you can see in sentences (h), (i), (j) and (k) directly above. Need synonyms for content Heres a list of similar words from our thesaurus that you can use instead. Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin Anglo-French, borrowed from Medieval Latin contentum (usually in plural contenta), noun derivative from neuter past participle of Latin continēre "to hold together, restrain, have as contents" - more at contain