Nook

How to spell nook

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce nook

What does nook mean?

1. nounA small, sheltered, or secluded corner or recess, often cosy or partly hidden.

Nook in a sentence

• She curled up to read in a quiet nook by the window.

• The breakfast nook in the kitchen seats four people comfortably.

Where does nook come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Nook entered English in the early 1300s as the Middle English word nok or noke, meaning a corner, an angle, or a secluded recess. Its ultimate origin is genuinely uncertain, though many scholars suspect a Scandinavian or wider Germanic source, comparing it with the Norwegian dialect word nok, meaning a hook or bent shape, and the idea of a corner being a place where two lines bend together. From its earliest use it described both a literal angular corner of a room or piece of land and, by extension, any small sheltered or hidden spot. That sense of cosy seclusion survives in the modern phrase 'every nook and cranny', where nook supplies the recess and cranny supplies the crack. The plain four-letter spelling is straightforward, but the double 'o' followed by the silent-looking 'k' is the only thing a writer pauses over.

How the word is built

• nook (single root from Middle English nok: a corner or angle)