nature

pronunciation

How to pronounce nature in British English: UK [ˈneɪtʃə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce nature in American English: US [ˈneɪtʃər] word us audio image

Noun:

the essential qualities or characteristics by which something is recognized
a causal agent creating and controlling things in the universe
the natural physical world including plants and animals and landscapes etc.
the complex of emotional and intellectual attributes that determine a person's characteristic actions and reactions
a particular type of thing

Word Origin

nature: nature: [13] Etymologically, someone’s nature is the qualities they were ‘born’ with. The word comes via Old French nature from Latin nātūra, a derivative of the verb nāscī ‘be born’ (source of English nation, native, etc). This originally meant simply ‘birth’, but by classical times it had developed to the ‘innate properties or qualities of something or someone’, and hence to the ‘inherent course of things’, the ‘way things are in the world’. The common English sense ‘physical world’ (as in nature study) first began to emerge in the 16th century.=> native

nature (n.): late 13c., "restorative powers of the body, bodily processes; powers of growth;" from Old French nature "nature, being, principle of life; character, essence," from Latin natura "course of things; natural character, constitution, quality; the universe," literally "birth," from natus "born," past participle of nasci "to be born," from PIE *gene- "to give birth, beget" (see genus). From late 14c. as "creation, the universe;" also "heredity, birth, hereditary circumstance; essential qualities, innate disposition" (as in human nature); "nature personified, Mother Nature." Specifically as "material world beyond human civilization or society" from 1660s. Nature and nurture have been contrasted since 1874. Nature should be avoided in such vague expressions as 'a lover of nature,' 'poems about nature.' Unless more specific statements follow, the reader cannot tell whether the poems have to do with natural scenery, rural life, the sunset, the untouched wilderness, or the habits of squirrels." [Strunk & White, "The Elements of Style," 3rd ed., 1979]