nest
/nɛst/noun, verb
nest is spelled N-E-S-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, nest means “A structure built by a bird as a place to incubate eggs and rear young” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of nest is nests.
How many letters and syllables are in nest?
| Letters | 4: N-E-S-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 12 times per million words; the 6,347th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is nest?
Nest appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,347th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce nest?
- /nɛst/
Nest has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-nest.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with nest?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as nest.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: sent, tens, nets, sten, snet.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of nest
- nests plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- nesting participle, present
- nested participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does nest mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A structure built by a bird as a place to incubate eggs and rear young.
- 2
A place used by a mammal, fish, amphibian or insect, for depositing eggs and hatching young.
- 3
A snug, comfortable, or cosy residence or job situation.
- 4
A retreat, or place of habitual resort.
- 5
A hideout for bad people to frequent or haunt; a den.
a nest of thieves
- 6
A home that a child or young adult shares with a parent or guardian.
I am aspiring to leave the nest.
- 7
A fixed number of cards in some bidding games awarded to the highest bidder allowing him to exchange any or all with cards in his hand.
I was forced to change trumps when I found the ace, jack, and nine of diamonds in the nest.
- 8
A fortified position for a weapon.
a machine gun nest
verb
- 1
To build or settle into a nest.
- 2
To settle into a home.
We loved the new house and were nesting there in two days!
- 3
To successively neatly fit inside another.
I bought a set of nesting mixing bowls for my mother.
- 4
To place in, or as if in, a nest.
- 5
To place one thing neatly inside another, and both inside yet another (and so on).
There would be much more room in the attic if you had nested all the empty boxes.
- 6
To hunt for birds' nests or their contents (usually "go nesting").
noun
- 1
Initialism of native English-speaking teacher.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Nest in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | nid , chez-soi, chez-moi , refuge , nicher, nidifier |
| German | Nest , nisten, einnisten |
| Portuguese | ninho , retiro , aninhar, fazer ninho , covil, esconderijo |
| Spanish | nido , anidar, anidarse , nidal |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does nest come from?
From Middle English nest, nist, nyst, from Old English nest, from Proto-West Germanic *nest, from Proto-Germanic *nestą, from Proto-Indo-European *nisdós (“nest”), literally "where [the bird] sits down", a compound of *ni (“down”) (whence also English nether) + the zero-grade of the root *sed- (“to sit”) (whence also English sit).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).