Nursery Grows Children and Plants in the Same Word
A nursery is a room or school for young children, and also a place where young plants are raised. Both are places where things are looked after until they are ready.
A nursery is where small children are cared for, and where young plants are grown before being planted out. One word covers both because the idea is identical: a protected place where something too young to cope is looked after until it can be moved on.
- A room or school for young children. *The village nursery.*
- A place where plants are raised. *A tree nursery.*
- Nursery rhyme — a traditional children's verse. *An old nursery rhyme.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | nursery | A day nursery. |
| Plural | nurseries | Local nurseries. |
| Compound | nursery school | Nursery school age. |
| Compound | nursery rhyme | A nursery rhyme. |
| Related | nurse | To nurse a plant along. |
How it is used in a sentence
- She starts nursery in September.British: pre-school education.
- We bought the roses from a nursery.Horticulture.
- The club is a nursery for young talent.Figurative: a place where ability is developed.
Early years vocabulary
- Nursery — care and early learning for under-fives
- Preschool — the American equivalent
- Reception — the first school year in England
- Kindergarten — from German, a garden of children
- Childminder — someone caring for children in their own home
From Old French *norture*, nourishment, from Latin *nutrire*, to feed or nourish. The same root gives *nurse*, *nutrition* and *nourish*.
Nursery or kindergarten?
Kindergarten is German for children's garden and is standard in America and Germany. British schools say nursery and then reception.
How old are nursery rhymes?
Many were first printed in the eighteenth century, though several are older and some tunes and words changed considerably along the way.