English [ edit ] Wikipedia
Etymology [ edit ] Variant form of the archaic nourice Old French norrice Latin nutricius “ that nourishes ” ), from nutrix “ wet nurse ” ), from nutrire “ to suckle ” ).
Pronunciation [ edit ] nurse (plural nurses
( archaic ) A wet-nurse .A person (usually a woman) who takes care of other people’s young.
They hired a nurse to care for their young boy
A person trained to provide care for the sick.
The nurse made her rounds through the hospital ward
1990 , House of Cards
Francis Urquhart: Right. Mackenzie. Health. No chance of getting him into a demo at a hospital, I suppose?Tim Stamper: Doesn't go to hospitals any more. Kept getting beaten up by the nurses ... I think he has trouble getting insured now.
One who, or that which, brings up, rears, causes to grow, trains, fosters, or the like.
Burke
the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise
( nautical ) A lieutenant or first officer who takes command when the captain is unfit for his place.A larva of certain trematodes , which produces cercariae by asexual reproduction .
A nurse shark .
Usage notes [ edit ]
Some speakers consider nurses (medical workers) to be female by default, and thus use "male nurse" to refer to a man doing the same job.
Translations [ edit ]
person who takes care of other people's young
Armenian: դայակ (hy) (dayak )
Azeri: dayə (az)
Belarusian: ня́ня f njánja )
Bulgarian: бава́чка (bg) f baváčka )
Chechen: дорийша dorīša )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 保育員 保育员 (zh) (bǎoyùyuán )
Czech: chůva f kojná (cs) f
Danish: barneplejerske c nurse c
Dutch: zoogmoeder f min (nl) f voedster (nl) f
Esperanto: vartisto
Estonian: lapsehoidja
Finnish: lastenhoitaja (fi)
French: nourrice (fr) f
German: Kinderfrau f Kindermädchen (de) n
Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰 f hagja
Greek: τροφός (el) f trofós ), παραμάνα (el) f paramána )
Hungarian: dada (hu) , dajka (hu)
Icelandic: barnfóstra (is) f fóstra (is) f
Irish: banaltra f
Italian: nutrice (it) f balia (it) f
Japanese: 保母 (ja) (ほぼ , hobo
Kalenjin: nas
Kamba: nasi
Kikuyu: nathi
Latvian: aukle (lv) f
Lithuanian: auklė f
Livonian: lapsvȱidaji
Luhya: omunasi
Luo: nas
Macedonian: дадилка (mk) f dadilka ), негувателка f neguvatelka )
Meru: nathi
Polish: opiekunka (pl) f
Portuguese: babá (pt) f ( Brazil )
Romanian: dădacă (ro) f doică (ro) f bonă (ro) f nursă (ro) f
Russian: ня́ня (ru) f njánja ), корми́лица (ru) f kormílica )
Scottish Gaelic: muime f banaltraim f màthair-altraim f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: дадиља f неговатељица f
Roman: dadilja (sh) f negovateljica (sh) f
Spanish: niñera (es) f
Tagalog: yaya
Turkish: dadı (tr) , bakıcı (tr)
Ukrainian: ня́ня f njánja )
Vietnamese: bảo mẫu
Volapük: ( ♂♀ ) ciladünan ( ♂ ) cilahidünan ( ♀ ) cilajidünan ( nursery ♂♀ ) cilikälan ( ♂ ) cilihikälan ( ♀ ) cilijikälan
Yiddish: ניאַניע f nyanye )
person trained to provide care for the sick
Afrikaans: verpleegkundige ( female ) verpleegster ( male ) verpleër
Albanian: infermiere (sq) f
Arabic: مُمَرِّض m mumarriḍ ), مُمَرِّضَة f mumarriḍa )
Egyptian Arabic: ممرض m mumarriḍ ), مُمَرِّضَة f mumarriḍa )
Armenian: բուժքույր (hy) (bužkʿuyr ), քույր (hy) (kʿuyr )
Azeri: tibb bacısı pərəstar
Basque: erizain (eu)
Belarusian: медсястра́ f mjedsjastrá ), сястра́ f sjastrá )
Bengali: নার্স nars )
Bulgarian: медици́нска сестра́ f medicínska sestrá )
Burmese: သူနာပြုဆရာမ sunapru.hca.rama. )
Catalan: infermer m
Chechen: дорийша dorīša )
Chinese:
Mandarin: 護士 (zh) , 护士 (zh) (hùshi ), 看護 (zh) , 看护 (zh) (kānhù )
Min Nan: 護士 hō͘-sū ), 看護 khan-hō͘ )
Czech: sestra (cs) f zdravotní sestra f ošetřovatel m ošetřovatelka f
Danish: sygeplejerske c
Dutch: verpleegster (nl) f verpleegkundige (nl) , verpleger (nl) m
Esperanto: flegisto
Estonian: õde (et) , meditsiiniõde
Finnish: sairaanhoitaja (fi) , hoitaja (fi) , hoitajatar (fi) f sairaanhoitajatar (fi) f
French: infirmière (fr) f infirmier (fr) m
Galician: enfermeiro (gl) m enfermeira f
Georgian: მედდა medda )
German: Schwester (de) f Krankenschwester (de) f Pflegerin f Krankenpflegerin (de) f Pfleger (de) m Krankenpfleger (de) m
Greek: νοσοκόμα (el) f nosokóma ), νοσοκόμος (el) m nosokómos ), νοσηλεύτρια (el) f nosiléftria ), νοσηλευτής (el) m nosileftís )
Hebrew: חוֹבֵשׁ m khovesh ), אָחוֹת (he) f akhót )
Hindi: नर्स (hi) f nars )
Hungarian: ápoló (hu) m ápolónő (hu) f nővér (hu) f
Icelandic: hjúkrunarfræðingur (is) m ( female ) hjúkrunarkona f ( female, colloquial, vernacular ) hjúkka f
Ido: flegisto (io)
Indonesian: suster (id)
Irish: banaltra f ( female ) banaltra fir f ( male )
Italian: infermiere (it) m infermiera (it) f
Japanese: ( official ) 看護師 (ja) (かんごし, kangoshi ), ( male ) 看護士 (ja) (かんごし, kangoshi ), ( female ) 看護婦 (ja) (かんごふ, kangofu ), ( female ) ナース nāsu )
Kazakh: медбике medbïke ), мейірбике meyirbïke )
Khmer: គិលានុបដ្ឋាយិកា kiʔlienuʔpattʰaayiʔkaa ) ( female ) គិលានុបដ្ឋាក kiʔlienuʔpattʰaak ) ( male )
Korean: 간호원 (ko) (ganhowon ) (看護員 (ko) ), 간호사 (ko) (ganhosa ) (看護師 (ko) )
Kyrgyz: медсестра (ky) (medsestra ), медайым medayım )
Lao: ພະຍາບານ (lo) (pha nyā bān )
Latvian: medmāsa f
Lithuanian: seselė f
Macedonian: медицинска сестра f medicinska sestra ), медицински брат m medicinski brat )
Malay: jururawat
Maltese: infermier m infermiera f ners m , f
Maori: nēhi nāhi
Mongolian: асрагч эх asragč eh )
Navajo: azeeʼ neiikáhí
Norman: nosse f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sykepleier (no) m sykesøster f søster (no) f pleier (no) m pleierske m
Nynorsk: sjukepleiar m
Persian: پرستار (fa) (parastâr )
Polish: pielęgniarka (pl) f siostra (pl) f
Portuguese: enfermeira (pt) f enfermeiro (pt) m
Romanian: infirmieră (ro) f infirmier (ro) m
Russian: медсестра́ (ru) f medsestrá ), сиде́лка (ru) f sidélka ), ( male nurse ) фе́льдшер (ru) m félʹdšer ), ( male nurse ) медбра́т (ru) m medbrát ), сестра́ (ru) f sestrá )
Scottish Gaelic: bean-eiridinn f bean-eiridnidh f neach-eiridinn m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: болничар m болничарка f
Roman: bolničar (sh) m bolničarka (sh) f
Slovak: zdravotná sestra f sestra (sk) f
Slovene: medicinska sestra (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: chórobna sotša f wótwardowaŕ chórych m
Spanish: enfermera f enfermero (es) m
Swahili: muuguzi (sw)
Swedish: sjuksköterska (sv) c sjukskötare c
Tagalog: nars
Tajik: ҳамшираи тиббӣ hamširayi tibbī ), парастор parastor )
Thai: พยาบาล (th) (páyaabaan )
Turkish: hemşire (tr)
Turkmen: şepagat uýasy
Ukrainian: медсестра́ f medsestrá ), сестра́ (uk) f sestrá )
Urdu: نرس f nars )
Uyghur: سېسترا sëstra )
Uzbek: hamshira (uz)
Vietnamese: y tá (vi)
Volapük: ( ♂♀ ) kälan (vo) , ( ♂ ) hikälan ( ♀ ) jikälan (vo)
Yiddish: קראַנקשוועסטער f krankshvester )
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations .
Translations to be checked
nurse (third-person singular simple present nurses present participle nursing simple past and past participle nursed
to breastfeed
She believes that nursing her baby will make him strong and healthy .
to care for the sick
She nursed him back to health.
to treat kindly and with extra care
She nursed the rosebush and that season it bloomed.
to drink slowly
to foster, to nourish
to hold closely to one's chest
Would you like to nurse the puppy?
to strike (billiard balls) gently, so as to keep them in good position during a series of shots
1866 , United States. Congress. Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, Supplemental report of the Joint Committee
It is to our interest to let Lee and Johnston come together, just as a billiard-player would nurse the balls when he has them in a nice place.
Usage notes [ edit ] In sense “to drink slowly”, generally negative and particularly used for someone at a bar, suggesting they either cannot afford to buy another drink or are too miserly to do so. By contrast, sip
Synonyms [ edit ] Translations [ edit ]
to treat kindly and with extra care
Derived terms [ edit ] See also [ edit ] External links [ edit ] Anagrams [ edit ] 
Nurse in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
