Nutrition

How to spell nutrition

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce nutrition

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nutrition mean?

1. nounThe process of taking in and using food for health and growth, or the study of how diet affects the body.

Nutrition in a sentence

• The clinic offers free advice on nutrition to new parents.

• Good nutrition and regular exercise improved her energy levels.

Where does nutrition come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin nutritio, meaning 'a nursing' or 'a feeding', which was built on the verb nutrire, 'to suckle, nourish, or feed'. That same root gave us a whole family of related English words, including 'nourish', 'nurse', and 'nutrient', all carrying the underlying idea of supplying food and sustenance. English took the word in through Old French in the late 1300s, originally referring to the act of feeding or being fed. Over time the meaning narrowed and became more scientific, settling on the process by which living things take in and use food to grow and stay healthy. The spelling keeps the Latin -tri- visible, and the soft -tion ending, pronounced 'shun', is the part that catches writers who might expect a different consonant cluster.

How the word is built

• nutri- (from Latin nutrire: to nourish, feed)
• -tion (noun-forming suffix denoting a process or state)