Nest

How to spell nest

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce nest

What does nest mean?

1. nounA structure of twigs, grass, or other material in which a bird lays eggs and rears its young.
2. nounA warm, comfortable, or secluded place that serves as a retreat or base.
3. verbTo settle snugly into a place, or to fit one object inside another of the same kind.

Nest in a sentence

• noun

  A robin built its nest in the hedge beside the gate.

• noun

  The cat curled into a nest of blankets on the sofa.

• verb

  The smaller bowls nest neatly inside the larger ones to save space.

• noun

  Three pale eggs sat in the nest high in the oak tree.

• noun

  Detectives uncovered a nest of forgers operating from the warehouse.

• verb

  Swallows return each spring to nest under the barn eaves.

Where does nest come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Nest comes straight from the Old English word nest, which named the structure a bird builds to lay its eggs and shelter its young. That word traces back to a very old Proto-Indo-European compound formed from ni, meaning 'down', and a root meaning 'to sit', so the literal sense was 'the place where one sits down'. The same ancient pairing survives in the Latin verb nidus and gives related words across the Germanic languages, including the German Nest. Because the word has been part of English since its earliest written records, its spelling has stayed short and stable, with no silent letters or borrowed quirks to trip a writer up. Over time the meaning broadened from the bird's home to any snug retreat, a set of objects that fit inside one another, and figuratively a hidden base for some activity.

How the word is built

• nest (a single Old English root, no affixes; from nest meaning a bird's resting place)