nutrient

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin nūtriēns (“nourishing”), the present participle of nūtriō (“to nourish, suckle, feed”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][1]} which Etymonline derives from an older form of nūtrīx (“nurse”), from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *(s)nāu- (“to swim, flow, let flow”), hence to suckle.^[3][5] The noun use may follow Medieval Latin nutriens (“nutritious substance”), found in a British source in the mid-13th century.^[2] The same Latin verb is the source of nourish,^[3][7] and Klein compares nurse and nurture.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, conveying or supplying nourishment: 1650, in John Bulwer's Anthropometamorphosis.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In anatomy and zoology the adjective came to describe whatever carries nourishment through the body.^[2][8] From 1661 it also meant simply nourishing or nutritious.^[2] The noun, a nutritious substance, is first recorded in Noah Webster's American Dictionary of 1828,^[2][3][6] and Barnhart dates it 1828–32.^[4] It was later used especially of the minerals and compounds, such as nitrates, that plants take in through their roots.^[6][9]

Timeline

• 1650 – adjective, conveying nourishment.^[2][4][6]
• 1661 – adjective, nourishing, nutritious.^[2]
• 1828 – noun, a nutritious substance, in Webster's dictionary.^[2][3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A substance that provides nourishment for growth and the life of an organism: Spinach is rich in several nutrients.^[9][6][2]
2. Especially, a mineral element or compound that a green plant takes in through its roots, such as a nitrate.^[9][6]

Adjective

1. Providing nourishment; nutritious.^[9][6][2]
2. (anatomy and zoology) Carrying nourishment to the tissues of the body.^[8][2]

Word family

• antinutrient
• macronutrient
• micronutrient
• nonnutrient

Related words

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

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins