Other forms: nurturing, nurtured, nurtures
To nurture is to care for something young and help it develop. Nurture a talent, nurture the seedlings, a nurturing environment.
It means providing the conditions for growth rather than forcing it, which is why it suits children, plants and ideas equally. Nature versus nurture is the standing argument about how much of a person is inborn and how much shaped, and the honest answer is that the question is badly framed. Note nurturing; and that nurture and nourish are the same Latin word.
1verbnurtureTo care for something young and help it develop.
“She nurtured the seedlings on her windowsill until they were strong enough to plant out.”
nurture is a fostering.
Also accepted in games: raise, foster
Old French norriture comes from Latin nutrire, to feed. Nourish, nutrient and nurse come from the same feeding.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)neh₂-
Latin
nutritura — nourishment
Old French
norriture
Middle English
norture
English, today
nurture
From Middle English norture, noriture, from Old French norriture, norreture, from Latin nutritura (“nourishment”), from Latin nutrire (“to nourish”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA