Niduses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A place or situation that provides lodging or a habitat for organisms or individuals
2. an environment conducive to development or growth
3. a supporting ground or source for sustained activity or reproduction

Etymology: "Niduses" is simply the plural of "nidus," so it inherits the story of its singular. The English word was borrowed from Latin "nīdus," meaning "nest," and it shares its ancestry with two familiar English words that came down by a different route. "Nye," an old word for a brood of pheasants or a nest of birds, and "nest" itself are doublets of "nidus," meaning they grew from the same Proto-Indo-European root but reached English through the Germanic line rather than through Latin. The Latin "nīdus" traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root connected with sitting down, which explains why a nest is literally a place where something settles. The word moved from concrete nesting into the broader sense of a place that gives a start or support to something developing, such as an organism, an infection, or a community of activity. Its plural "niduses" uses the regular English ending, though Latin-derived nouns often take "nidi" in scientific writing.

Synonyms: nest, den, lair, refuge, sanctuary