# nurse

> English word · Noun · IPA /nɜːs/ · frequency rank #3,640

## Definitions
1. A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:
2. A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:
3. A person involved in providing direct care for the sick:
4. A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s children.
5. One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, or fosters.
6. A shrub or tree that protects a young plant.
7. A lieutenant or first officer who takes command when the captain is unfit for his place.
8. A larva of certain trematodes, which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction.
9. A wet nurse.

## Etymology
From Middle English norice, from Old French norrice, from Late Latin nūtrīcia, noun based on Latin nūtrīcius (“that which nourishes”), from nūtrīx (“wet nurse”), from nūtriō (“to suckle”).

## Easily confused with
- **nuts** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nurse-vs-nuts)
- **nursery** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nurse-vs-nursery)
- **Nur** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nur-vs-nurse)
- **nose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nose-vs-nurse)
- **nude** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nude-vs-nurse)
- **nuns** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nuns-vs-nurse)
- **nuke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nuke-vs-nurse)
- **noise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noise-vs-nurse)
- **nerve** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nerve-vs-nurse)
- **Norse** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/norse-vs-nurse)
- **nudge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/nudge-vs-nurse)
- **noose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/noose-vs-nurse)

## Common misspellings (7)
`nnurse`, `nruse`, `nures`, `nurrse`, `nursse`, `nusre`, `unrse`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/nurse