{"id":24208,"date":"2025-09-11T12:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24208"},"modified":"2025-09-12T14:04:23","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T14:04:23","slug":"nesting-niches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24208","title":{"rendered":"Nesting Niches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What connects the word <strong>niche<\/strong> with <strong>nests<\/strong>? Let&#8217;s find out.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/andreakirkby\/5427848356\/in\/photolist-9gD9dm-2oiXU7G-bNtfAH-bNtfxn-bzyB5C-c4NPHJ-fpnVUN-nJ3HcW-6ooU5x-2hZQsaB-wcX9YC-2hZQtRY-2hZMZr2-QUzpJd-bvQzad-7zpNPf-79jZYw-9RhC44-4nPAeZ-24cUKd5-mkene-wbyXTn-9h5SCp-dmD2xH-2nb8yoV-2r8ykrC-cW5pK-9Rkwg1-CNU9c-2hZRCqa-2jBuCZa-28ExwNy-9RkvJN-foMzWC-2hZQsca-9RkwBJ-9RkvCY-4nc2Nv-2hYAEAh-72UjLc-2rfmBSk-7HHtRn-i53Xif-2mHyKEH-9mvug6-9RhCSZ-9hryvq-9teAGi-cSDWAS-2qQNDVv\" title=\"Niches\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/5256\/5427848356_bee0b39ee6_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"425\" alt=\"Niches\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>niche<\/strong> include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A cavity, hollow, or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament.<\/li>\n<li>A function within an ecological system to which an organism is especially suited.<\/li>\n<li>Any position of opportunity for which one is well-suited, such as a particular market in business. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are several ways to pronounce it, including [ni\u02d0\u0283], which rhymes with <strong>leash<\/strong>, [n\u026a\u0283], which rhymes with <strong>fish<\/strong>, and [n\u026at\u0283], which rhymes with <strong>pitch<\/strong>. Which one do you prefer? <\/p>\n<p>It comes from French <strong>niche<\/strong> [ni\u0283] (niche, kennel), from Middle French <em>niche<\/em>, from Old French <em>niche<\/em>, from <em>nicher<\/em> (to make a nest), from Latin <em>*n\u012bdic\u0101re<\/em> (to nest), from <em>n\u012bdus<\/em> (nest), Proto-Italic <em>*nizdos<\/em> (nest), from Proto-Indo-European <em>*nisd\u00f3s<\/em> (nest), from <em>*ni<\/em> (down) &#038; <em>*sed-<\/em> (sit) &#8211; literally &#8220;where [the bird] sits down&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/niche#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same PIE roots include <strong>neth<\/strong> (sprout, bud) in Albanian, <strong>\u0576\u057d\u057f\u0565\u056c<\/strong> [n\u0259s\u02c8tel] (to sit, sink, fit, shrink) in Armenian, <strong>ligzda<\/strong> (nest) in Latvian, <strong>gniazdo<\/strong> (nest, socket) in Polish, <strong>\u0928\u0940\u0921\u093c<\/strong> (n\u012b\u1e5b &#8211; nest) in Hindi, <strong>nead<\/strong> (nest, bed, lair, home, den) in Irish, and <strong>nido<\/strong> (nest, home, nursery school) in Italian [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/nisd%C3%B3s\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>nest<\/strong> comes from the same PIE roots, via Middle English <em>nest<\/em> (nest), Old English <em>nest<\/em> (nest), Proto-West Germanic <em>*nest<\/em> (nest), and Proto-Germanic <em>*nest\u0105<\/em> (nest, provisions, food and supplies) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/nest#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The English word <strong>nidus<\/strong> (an aggregate of neurons; a nest of insects or small animals) also comes from the same roots, via Latin <em>n\u012bdus<\/em> (nest), as do <strong>nidation<\/strong> (the implantation of the early embryo in the uterus), <strong>nidificate<\/strong> (to make or build a nest), <strong>nidolody<\/strong> (the study of nests) and <strong>nidifugous<\/strong> (that leaves the nest shortly after hatching) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/nidus#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The archaic English words <strong>nid(e)<\/strong> (a nest of pheasants) and <strong>nye<\/strong> (a brood or flock of pheasants), also share the same roots. They were probably borrowed from Middle French <em>nid<\/em> (nest), from Latin <em>n\u012bdus<\/em> (nest) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/nide#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What connects the word niche with nests? Let&#8217;s find out. A niche include: A cavity, hollow, or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament. A function within an ecological system to which an organism is especially suited. Any position of opportunity for which one is well-suited, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[183,205,104,111,122,127,128,10,302,16,26,27,33,34,39,44,45,46,202],"tags":[164,158,138,494,493,495,281,163],"class_list":["post-24208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-albanian-shqip","category-armenian-","category-english","category-french","category-hindi","category-irish","category-italian","category-language","category-late-latin","category-latvian","category-middle-english","category-middle-french","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-old-french","category-polish","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-proto-italic","category-proto-west-germanic","tag-english","tag-etymology","tag-language","tag-nest","tag-niche","tag-nidus","tag-omniglot","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24208"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24214,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24208\/revisions\/24214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}