Nota bene

{{short description|Italian and Latin phrase}}

{{about|the Latin phrase|the suite of applications for scholars|Nota Bene (word processor)}}

{{redirect|N.b.||NB (disambiguation)}}

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{{lang|la|Nota bene}} ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|n|oʊ|t|ə|_|ˈ|b|ɛ|n|eɪ|,_|ˈ|b|ɛ|n|i|,_|ˈ|b|iː|n|i}} {{respell|NOH|tə|_|BEN|ay|,_|BEN|ee|,_|BEE|nee}};{{Cite OED|term=nota bene|id=2426898483|access-date=2025-04-12|access=free}} plural: {{lang|la|notate bene}}) is the Latin phrase meaning note well.{{Cite Collins Dictionary|nota bene|access-date=2025-04-12}}

In manuscripts, nota bene is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of nota bene and notate bene first appeared in the English style of writing around the year 1711.{{cite book

| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-NAvAQAAMAAJ&q=Joseph%20Addison's%20passions%20of%20the%20fan&pg=PA283| page=283 | title=The Works of Joseph Addison| first=Joseph| last=Addison| author-link=Joseph Addison| publisher=W. W. Gibbings| year=1891}}{{cite web| url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12030/12030-h/12030-h.htm#section102| title=No. 102 Wednesday, June 27, 1711| first=Joseph| last=Addison| author-link=Joseph Addison| publisher=Project Gutenberg| year=2004}}{{cite web| url =http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nota+bene&allowed_in_frame=0| title=nota bene| work=Online Etymology Dictionary| author=Harper, Douglas| access-date = 2016-03-02}} In Modern English, since the 14th century, the editorial usage of NB is common to the legal style of writing of documents to direct the reader's attention to a thematically relevant aspect of the subject that qualifies the matter being litigated,{{cite web| url=http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/glossary-of-terms#N| title=nota bene| work=HM Courts & Tribunals Service – Glossary of terms – Latin| publisher=Her Majesty's Courts Service, United Kingdom| access-date=2012-09-28| archive-date=2012-10-03| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003024620/http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/glossary-of-terms#N | url-status=dead}} whereas in academic writing, the editorial abbreviation n.b. is a casual synonym for footnote.

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In medieval manuscripts, the editorial marks used to draw the reader's attention to a supporting text also are called {{lang|la|nota bene}} marks; however, the catalogue of medieval editorial marks does not include the NB abbreviation. The medieval equivalents to the n.b.-mark are anagrams derived from the four letters of the Latin word {{lang|la|nota}}, thus the abbreviation DM for {{lang|la|dignum memoria}} ("worth remembering") and the typographic index symbol of the manicule (☞), the little hand that indicates the start of the relevant supporting text.Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007), p. 44.