Word for number one in France may be proper (4)
I believe the answer is:
noun
'word' is the definition.
(I know that noun is a type of content word)
'number one in france may be proper' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'number' could be 'no' (abbreviation) and 'no' is found within the answer.
'one' could be 'un' (northern English dialect form of 'one') and 'un' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'for' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for noun that I've seen before include "Part of speech identifying a person, place or thing" , "Word used as a name for something or person" , "Word referring to person, place or thing" , "Word identifying people, things, etc" , "Identifying word (common or proper)" .)