nursery

B2 Topic:Gardening & Horticulture

Also spelled nussery

US /ˈnɝsəɹi/ UK /ˈnɜːsəɹi/ See IPA manual

Freq #7713

Meanings

1

noun
A place where young children are looked after while their parents work.

They take their daughter to nursery every morning.
2

noun
A bedroom in a house for a baby or young child.

They painted the nursery a soft shade of yellow.
3

noun
A place where plants are grown and sold.

We bought several rose bushes at the garden nursery.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 noun · a bedroom in a house for a... baby's room

Word family

Forms nurseries

Derived forms nurserydomnurseryfishnurseryfulnurserymaid nurserymannurserypersonnurserywarenurserywomanpaleonurseryprenursery

Related forms nurse

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

nursery school
a school for young children before they begin formal primary education

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English noricerie, norserye (“children's nursery; state of being fostered or nursed; education, upbringing”) [and other forms], from Old French norricerie, nourricerie, from norrice, nourrice (modern French nourrice (“childminder, nanny; wet nurse”)) + -erie (suffix forming feminine nouns). Norrice and nourrice are derived from Late Latin nūtrīcia (“wet nurse”), from Latin nūtrīcius (“that nurses or suckles; nourishing”), from nūtriō (“to breastfeed, nurse, suckle”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to flow”). The English word may be analysed as nourice, nur…

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

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Gardening & Horticulture Places & Geography

External links

# nursery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈnɝsəɹi/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈnɜːsəɹi/
**Frequency rank:** 7713

## Meanings
1. A place where young children are looked after while their parents work.
2. A bedroom in a house for a baby or young child.
3. A place where plants are grown and sold.

## Examples
- They take their daughter to nursery every morning.
- They painted the nursery a soft shade of yellow.
- We bought several rose bushes at the garden nursery.

## Derived Forms
- nurserydom
- nurseryfish
- nurseryful
- nurserymaid
- nurseryman
- nurseryperson
- nurseryware
- nurserywoman
- paleonursery
- prenursery

## Related Forms
- nurse

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *(s)neh₂-
- Root: noricerie
- Root: norricerie
- Root: nūtrīcia
- Root: nūtrīcius
- Affix: -ery - place

## Etymology
From Middle English noricerie, norserye (“children's nursery; state of being fostered or nursed; education, upbringing”) [and other forms], from Old French norricerie, nourricerie, from norrice, nourrice (modern French nourrice (“childminder, nanny; wet nurse”)) + -erie (suffix forming feminine nouns). Norrice and nourrice are derived from Late Latin nūtrīcia (“wet nurse”), from Latin nūtrīcius (“that nurses or suckles; nourishing”), from nūtriō (“to breastfeed, nurse, suckle”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to flow”). The English word may be analysed as nourice, nur…

## AI Etymology
Nursery comes from Middle English noricerie, norserye (“children's nursery; state of being fostered or nursed; education, upbringing”) [and other forms], from Old French norricerie, nourricerie, from norrice, nourrice (modern French nourrice (“childminder, nanny; wet nurse”)) + -erie (suffix forming feminine nouns). Norrice and nourrice are derived from Late Latin nūtrīcia (“wet nurse”), from Latin nūtrīcius (“that nurses or suckles; nourishing”), from nūtriō (“to breastfeed, nurse, suckle”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to flow”). Modern senses include a place where young children are looked after while their parents work and a bedroom in a house for a baby or young child. The wider word family includes derivatives such as nurserydom, nurseryfish, nurseryful, nurserymaid, nurseryman, and nurseryperson and related forms such as nurse.

## Topics
- Gardening & Horticulture
- Places & Geography

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