habitat

Definition

Conditions suitable for an organism or population of organisms to live.

Etymology

From Latin habitat (“it dwells, lives”), the 3rd person singular present active indicative form of habitō (“I live or dwell”). In Linnaeus and similar authors, the geographical ranges of species were customarily denoted in Latin by a sentence beginning with "Habitat", e.g. "Habitat in Europa" ("It lives in Europe"), and it thus became the convention to refer to the geographical range as the "habitat". Compare the English derivations of exit, floruit, ignoramus, and tenet from Latin finite verbs reanalyzed as English nouns.

Example Sentences

• "This park offers important amphibian habitat and breeding area."
• "rights-of-way are usually perceived as disturbance zones that provide a habitat and corridor for non-native species."
• "this book is just the impetus you need to clear the clutter and reorganize your habitat."

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