Other forms: environments
The environment is the natural world — air, water, soil, forests and the animals living in them — thought of as something that can be damaged or protected. Plastic bottles in the sea, exhaust fumes at a junction, a hedge left standing for the birds.
The other meaning is the one you live inside: the conditions and surroundings that shape a person. A noisy working environment, a safe environment for children, a school environment where nobody laughs at your accent. Programmers took it for the setup a piece of software runs in — a test environment, a development environment, environment variables. The adjective environmental splits the same way: environmental damage on one side, environmental factors in a child's health on the other. And mind the spelling: there is an N in the middle that people drop, so it is environment, not enviroment.
1nounenvironmentThe natural world, especially as something affected by human activity.
“The new rules are meant to protect the environment.”
2nounsurroundingsThe conditions and surroundings in which a person lives or works.
“Children learn faster in a calm environment.”
3nounsetThe set of conditions and settings in which a computer program runs.
“Test the change in a staging environment before you release it.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
environment is surroundings.
Environment came into English whole from Middle French environnement, and French still uses the same word today. It was borrowed ready-made rather than built up inside English, which is why it looks so French once you notice.
Middle French
environnement
English, today
environment
Borrowed from Middle French environnement. From Middle French environnement. Compare French environnement. by surface analysis, en + environ + ment.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA