nurture

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English norture,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman norture, also nurtur,^[5][3] variants of noreture and norreture (modern French nourriture),^[5][6][7] from Late Latin nūtrītūra (“a nursing, suckling”),^[8][3][7][4] from Latin nūtrītus, the past participle of nūtriō (“to suckle, nourish”).^[8][4][7] The American Heritage Dictionary traces the Latin verb to the root Proto-Indo-European *(s)nāu-.^[8] The French word is recorded from the late 11th century, first of cattle being bred, and since the late 13th century for education;^[5] in Anglo-Norman it covered food, fostering, education, good breeding, guardianship and the rearing of animals.^[9] Barnhart sees the form nurture as partly a learned adaptation of the Late Latin word.^[3] The verb was formed from the noun.^[5][4][2] The word is related to nourish, nurse and nutrition.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person's breeding and upbringing, especially in manners and courtesy: Barnhart's first record is norture in Kyng Alisaunder, probably before 1300, with the surname Nurtur as early as 1289.^[3] The OED's first quotation, from Arthour and Merlin, is about 1330.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The early senses were social as much as physical: upbringing and training, especially in behaviour and etiquette, and the care given to a child.^[5][2] From 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt, it also meant food or nourishment, a sense now rare;^[5][2] Johnson (1755) still listed "food; diet" first, and "education" second, calling the latter little used.^[10] Tyndale's New Testament (1526) used it for moral training or discipline, a sense obsolete by 1684.^[5][4] The verb, first "to feed and rear" (before 1450),^[5][3] was also used for training and educating (about 1475) and, in Scots, for disciplining or punishing (about 1520).^[5] The modern extended sense, the careful fostering of something, appears in 1789, and the verb "to foster, cultivate" in 1792, in Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman.^[5] In biology the noun names the influences of environment on an organism, as against those of nature.^[11] In Aberdeenshire it has meant harsh treatment or chastisement since 1911.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1300 – the form norture, upbringing.^[3] The surname Nurtur is recorded in 1289.^[3]
• c. 1330 – breeding, upbringing, training; the rearing of a child.^[5]
• 1340 – nourishment, food.^[5][12]
• before 1450 – verb, to feed and rear.^[5] Barnhart finds the past participle probably before 1400.^[3]
• c. 1475 – verb, to train, educate.^[5]
• c. 1520 – verb, to discipline, punish.^[5]
• 1526 – moral training or discipline (obsolete by 1684).^[5]
• 1789 – the careful fostering of something.^[5]
• 1792 – verb, to foster, cultivate.^[5]
• 1911 – Aberdeenshire: harsh treatment.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To care for and encourage the growth or development of someone or something: She nurtured the young players through their first season.^[13][5][4]
2. To feed, protect and rear a child or young animal.^[4][11][5]
3. To train or educate.^[4][11][5]
4. To cherish a hope, plan or belief.^[13][5]

Noun

1. The process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something.^[13][11]
2. The upbringing, education or training that a person receives.^[4][11][5]
3. In biology, the influences of environment that help shape an organism, as opposed to its heredity.^[11]
4. Something that nourishes; food (now rare).^[4][11][5]
5. (obsolete, 1526–1684) Moral training or discipline.^[4][5]

Word family

• nurturer
• nurturable
• nurtureless
• unnurtured

Related words

• nourish
• nourishment
• nurse
• nursery
• nurturance
• nutrient
• nutriment
• nutrition
• nutritious
• nutritive

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
13. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press