nunnery

The word "nunnery" has a straightforward etymological construction, combining the agent noun with a locative suffix. Its core, "nun," entered Old English from ecclesiastical Latin, tracing back to the respectful title nonna. The suffix "-ery," borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-Norman French, is a prolific formative for nouns indicating a place connected to a specific practice or group. Therefore, the literal "place for nuns" constructed in Middle English remains perfectly transparent in its modern meaning. It is a direct parallel to words like "brewery" (a place for brewing) and "bakery" (a place for baking), solidly encoding its function within its morphology.

Structure: nun (nun) + ery (place associated with) nun: From Old English nunne, ultimately from Late Latin nonna, a title for a nun. It functions as the core noun denoting a female member of a religious order. ery: A suffix of Anglo-Norman and Old French origin (-erie), from Latin -arius. In English, it forms nouns denoting a place of occupation, business, or collection. Its functional role here is to create a noun meaning "a place for or associated with nuns."