Nota bene (/ˈnoʊtə ˈbɛneɪ/, /ˈnoʊtə ˈbɛni/ or /ˈnoʊtə ˈbiːni/; plural: notate bene) is the Latin phrase meaning note well.^[1] 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.^[2][3][4] 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,^[5] whereas in academic writing, the editorial abbreviation n.b. is a casual synonym for footnote.

In medieval manuscripts, the editorial marks used to draw the reader's attention to a supporting text also are called 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 nota, thus the abbreviation DM for dignum memoria ("worth remembering") and the typographic index symbol of the manicule (☞), the little hand that indicates the start of the relevant supporting text.^[6]

Look up nota bene, NB, N.B., nb, n.b., nota, D.M., DM, or manicule in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Annotation
• Obiter dictum
• Postscript
• Quod vide
• List of Latin abbreviations
• List of Latin phrases
• List of legal Latin terms