Nativity: what does it mean?

The word "Nativity" is often heard around Christmas time.

Nativity, St. Andrew's Church, Chesterton, Cambridge (CC, TheRevSteve's photostream, Flickr)

Several other words in English are formed from the Latin word root nat, which means "birth." Here are a few of them:

1) A native of a place is a person who was born there.

"French is my native language" [= French is the language I learned because I was born in France, in a French-speaking family.

"I am a native speaker of French" 母語人士

2) prenatal = pre [before] + nat [born] + al [ADJ]

"Many people believe in prenatal education" [= teaching your child before he/she is born] 生前教育

prenatal care 生前保健 （BrE 英式英語 ＝ antenatal care) Special care given to a mother to be sure she and her baby are healthy

3) A nation usually means the group of people who are born in a place, or who are related to each other by birth:

"The nation of Israel" (descendants of Jacob, also called Israel) = the Jewish people

4) Neonate (NOUN) and neonatal (ADJ) are a doctor's words for newborn babies

"Care of the High-Risk Neonate" [a textbook for doctors and nurses taking care of newborn babies with severe problems], "neonatal nutrition"

5] Innate [= inborn]

"Some people believe that color preferences are innate"

In Spanish, the word Nativity becomes navidad [felices navidades = Merry Christmas]

Update on Friday, December 23, 2011 at 10:40PM by Webmaster

If English is not your dirst language, the word "Nativity" may be a little difficult to learn and remember. "Nativity plays," "Nativity scenes," "Nativity sets," "Nativity costumes" etc. All of these and many other expressions refer to the birth of Jesus, but most people only use this word once a year in December.

Is this word worth learning? Maybe not, but the root "nat" is definitely useful. If you want to build your vocabulary, learning the root "nat" can help you learn and remember several other more common English words. In this posting, your webmaster takes a look at some of these words.:

native, prenatal, nation, neonate, innate