nourish
Meaning
to provide a person, animal, or plant with the food and other substances they need in order to live, grow, and stay healthy
to keep a feeling, idea, or belief strong or help it to grow stronger
Usage
a well-balanced diet is essential to nourish the body.
she nourished a hope that they would one day be reunited.
the rain helped to nourish the newly planted crops.
Etymology
The English word "nourish" entered the language in the 14th century from the Old French "norrir," which meant to feed, nurture, or raise. This Old French term itself evolved from the Latin verb "nutrire," carrying the same core meaning of to suckle, feed, or foster. The Latin "nutrire" is traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root (s)na- meaning "to flow, to swim," an ancient semantic connection that metaphorically extended to the nourishing flow of a mother's milk. Thus, the modern abstract sense of sustaining growth, whether physical or metaphorical, flows directly from this ancient concept of providing life-sustaining sustenance.
Analysis
The word is a simplex form derived as a whole from Old French.