nurse

A1 Topic:Health & Medicine

Also spelled nuss

US /nɝs/ UK /nɜːs/ See IPA manual

Freq #1549

Meanings

1

noun
A person trained to care for sick or injured people, usually in a hospital.

The nurse checked his temperature every hour.
2

verb
To look after someone who is ill and help them get better.

She nursed him back to health after the accident.
3

verb
To feed a baby with milk from the breast.

The mother nursed her baby every few hours.
4

verb
To look after something carefully so that it grows or improves.

He nursed his small business until it became successful.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

3 verb · to feed a baby with milk... suck

More drink

Word family

Forms dry-nursenursednurses

Derived forms allonursedry-nursedrynursemursenonnursenursablenurse-assistantnurse-innurse-practitionernursebotnursedomnursegirl

Related forms matron sister

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

nurse practitioner
a registered nurse with advanced training to perform additional clinical duties

Noun + noun
wet nurse
A woman who breastfeeds another person's baby, often as paid work.

Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”).

*(s)neh₂- Proto-Indo-European norice Middle English norrice Old French nūtrīcia la-lat nūtrīcius Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine

External links

# nurse

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /nɝs/
**IPA (UK):** /nɜːs/
**Frequency rank:** 1549

## Meanings
1. A person trained to care for sick or injured people, usually in a hospital.
2. To look after someone who is ill and help them get better.
3. To feed a baby with milk from the breast.
4. To look after something carefully so that it grows or improves.

## Examples
- The nurse checked his temperature every hour.
- She nursed him back to health after the accident.
- The mother nursed her baby every few hours.
- He nursed his small business until it became successful.

## Synonyms
- drink

## Derived Forms
- allonurse
- dry-nurse
- drynurse
- murse
- nonnurse
- nursable
- nurse-assistant
- nurse-in
- nurse-practitioner
- nursebot
- nursedom
- nursegirl

## Related Forms
- matron
- sister

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *(s)neh₂-
- Root: norice
- Root: norrice
- Root: nūtrīcia
- Root: nūtrīcius

## Etymology
From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”).

## AI Etymology
Nurse comes from Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”). The historical chain includes Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂-, Middle English norice, Old French norrice, la-lat nūtrīcia, and Latin nūtrīcius. Modern senses include a person trained to care for sick or injured people, usually in a hospital and to look after someone who is ill and help them get better. The wider word family includes derivatives such as allonurse, dry-nurse, drynurse, murse, nonnurse, and nursable and related forms such as matron and sister.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine

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