nurse

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /nɜːs/, US /nɝːs/^[1]

Etymology

The noun is contracted, inherited from Middle English nurrice, norice, borrowed from Old French norrice (“foster-mother, wet-nurse”),^[2][3][4] from Late Latin *nūtrīcia (“nurse, governess”), the feminine of nūtrīcius (“that suckles, nourishes”),^[2][3] from nūtrīx (“wet-nurse”), from nūtrīre (“to suckle, nourish”).^[2][3][4] The verb is an alteration of Middle English nurshen, norishen “to nourish”, influenced by the noun.^[2][4][5] Old French norrice is also the source of the name Norris.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A wet-nurse or foster-mother: about 1200 in Etymonline, before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle according to Barnhart.^[2][3] The modern contracted form is from the late 14th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century a nurse was also a servant who looked after a child.^[2] The figurative sense, that which nourishes or fosters, is from 1526.^[6] A person who cares for the sick is first recorded in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1590),^[3][6] and Nurse as a title from 1702.^[6] The verb is from the 1520s for bringing up a child and the 1530s for suckling;^[2] to look after the sick is from 1736.^[2] To hold or treat carefully, as in nursing a drink or a grudge, is a later figurative use.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a wet-nurse.^[2]
• 1520s – to bring up a child.^[2]
• 1590 – a person who cares for the sick.^[3]
• 1702 – Nurse as a title.^[6]
• 1736 – to look after the sick.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person trained to care for sick or injured people, especially in a hospital.
2. (dated) A woman employed to look after young children; a nursemaid.
3. A woman who breast-feeds another woman's baby; a wet nurse.

Verb

1. To look after a sick person.
2. To breast-feed a baby.
3. To treat an injury carefully so that it heals.
4. To hold a feeling for a long time: nurse a grudge.

Word family

• nurser
• dry-nurse
• nurse-practitioner
• wet-nurse
• nursemaid
• nursling
• overnurse
• undernurse

Related words

• nursery
• nourish
• nutrition
• nutritious
• nutrient

Usage notes

Nurse, a name for various sharks and dogfishes (as in nurse shark), is from about 1500 and of unknown origin; it may be the same word, or a different one, earlier nuss, changed to match it.^[2][9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press