Huddler

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who gathers or crowds closely with others for warmth or protection
2. Someone who clusters tightly among a group to share heat or security
3. An individual who groups themselves closely with others to stay warm or feel safe

Etymology: "Huddler" is about as plain as English word-building gets: it is "huddle" with the agent suffix "-er" attached, so it names someone or something that huddles, one who crowds together with others. The verb "huddle" came first, and the noun was simply built from it when English speakers needed a name for the person doing the crowding. The interest lies in the base word. "Huddle" carries a sense of hurried, bunched-up gathering, and "huddler" keeps that picture of people pressed close together rather than standing apart. Because the suffix is productive, the same pattern produces many other agent nouns in English, so "huddler" belongs to a large family of words that each name the doer of an action.