nurture

C2+ Topic:Cause, Change & Process

US /ˈnɝtʃɚ/ UK /ˈnɜːtʃə/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to care for and encourage the growth or development of

Good teachers nurture curiosity in their students.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to care for and encourage... nourish cultivate foster cherish rear tend raise

Opposites

neglect stunt deprive

Word family

Derived forms nurturernurturancenurturing

Related forms nurse nutrition nourish nutriment

Etymology

From Old French norriture ('food, nourishment, upbringing'), from Late Latin nutritura ('a nourishing'), from Latin nutrire ('to nourish, suckle').

norriture Old French nutrire Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Cause, Change & Process

External links

# nurture

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈnɝtʃɚ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈnɜːtʃə/

## Meanings
1. to care for and encourage the growth or development of

## Examples
- Good teachers nurture curiosity in their students.

## Synonyms
- nourish
- cultivate
- foster
- cherish
- rear
- tend
- raise

## Antonyms
- neglect
- stunt
- deprive

## Derived Forms
- nurturer
- nurturance
- nurturing

## Related Forms
- nurse
- nutrition
- nourish
- nutriment

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: norriture
- Root: nutrire

## Etymology
From Old French norriture ('food, nourishment, upbringing'), from Late Latin nutritura ('a nourishing'), from Latin nutrire ('to nourish, suckle').

## AI Etymology
Nurture comes from Old French norriture ('food, nourishment, upbringing'), from Late Latin nutritura ('a nourishing'), from Latin nutrire ('to nourish, suckle'). The historical trail runs through Old French norriture and Latin nutrire. In modern use it means to care for and encourage the growth or development of. Derived formations include nurturer, nurturance, nurturing; related forms include nurse, nutrition, nourish, nutriment.

## Topics
- Cause, Change & Process

markdown