"empty nester" meaning in All languages combined

See empty nester on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: empty nesters [plural]
Etymology: Etymology tree English empty nest Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English empty nester From empty nest + -er. Etymology templates: {{ety|en|:af|empty nest|-er<id:occupation>|text=+|tree=1}} Etymology tree English empty nest Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English empty nester [Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from", "terms" : [ { "id" : "agent noun", "children" : [ { "keyword_abbrev" : "nom.", "keyword_label" : "Nominalization of", "terms" : [ { "id" : "adjective", "children" : [ { "terms" : [ { "id" : "adjective", "children" : [ { "keyword_abbrev" : "der.", "keyword_label" : "Derived from", "terms" : [ { "id" : "suffix", "children" : [ ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Proto-Indo-European", "term" : "*-yós", "lang" : "ine-pro" } ], "keyword" : "derived" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Proto-Italic", "term" : "*-āzijos", "lang" : "itc-pro" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Latin", "term" : "-ārius", "lang" : "la" } ], "keyword" : "nominalization" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Latin", "term" : "-ārius", "lang" : "la" } ], "keyword" : "bor" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Proto-Germanic", "term" : "*-ārijaz", "lang" : "gem-pro" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Proto-West Germanic", "term" : "*-ārī", "lang" : "gmw-pro" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Old English", "term" : "-ere", "lang" : "ang" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "Middle English", "term" : "-ere", "lang" : "enm" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "status" : "ok", "lang_name" : "English", "term" : "-er", "lang" : "en" } ], "keyword_label" : "From", "is_group" : true, "keyword" : "affix" } ], "lang_name" : "English", "term" : "empty nester", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "en" }" data-lang="en" data-title="empty nester"> From empty nest + -er. Head templates: {{en-noun|nolinkhead=1}} empty nester (plural empty nesters)
  1. A person whose children have grown up and left home. Related terms: empty nest, empty nest syndrome, full nester Translations (person whose children have left home): 空巢老人 (Chinese Mandarin), 空巢主 (kōngcháo lǎorén) (Chinese Mandarin), anidador vacío [masculine] (Spanish), nidificador vacío [masculine] (Spanish), anidante vacío [masculine] (Spanish), nidificante vacío [masculine] (Spanish)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":af",
        "3": "empty nest",
        "4": "-er<id:occupation>",
        "text": "+",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nEnglish empty nest\nProto-Indo-European *-yósder.\nProto-Italic *-āzijos\nLatin -āriusnom.\nLatin -āriusbor.\nProto-Germanic *-ārijaz\nProto-West Germanic *-ārī\nOld English -ere\nMiddle English -ere\nEnglish -er\nEnglish empty nester\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"agent noun\", \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"nom.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Nominalization of\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"adjective\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"adjective\", \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"suffix\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*-yós\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Italic\", \"term\" : \"*-āzijos\", \"lang\" : \"itc-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"-ārius\", \"lang\" : \"la\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"nominalization\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"-ārius\", \"lang\" : \"la\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*-ārijaz\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-West Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*-ārī\", \"lang\" : \"gmw-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Old English\", \"term\" : \"-ere\", \"lang\" : \"ang\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"-ere\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"-er\", \"lang\" : \"en\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"empty nester\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"empty nester\">\nFrom empty nest + -er.",
      "name": "ety"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Etymology tree\nEnglish empty nest\nProto-Indo-European *-yósder.\nProto-Italic *-āzijos\nLatin -āriusnom.\nLatin -āriusbor.\nProto-Germanic *-ārijaz\nProto-West Germanic *-ārī\nOld English -ere\nMiddle English -ere\nEnglish -er\nEnglish empty nester\nFrom empty nest + -er.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "empty nesters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "nolinkhead": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "empty nester (plural empty nesters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries referencing missing etymons",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with etymology texts",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with etymology trees",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -er (occupation)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages using etymon with no ID",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with etymology trees",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              63,
              75
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2005, Ken Dychtwald, Daniel J. Kadlec, The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest of Your Life, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 31:",
          "text": "In recent years, however, the “syndrome” aspect of becoming an empty nester has receded to the background as Ageless Explorers have begun to embrace the years when they are free to play and do as they want again.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              6,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 August 10, Don Riddell, “Now that my kids are off to college, what’s this empty nester dad to do?”, in CNN:",
          "text": "“When empty nesters talk about the teenagers,” the comedian Jim Gaffigan quipped, “they always sound like they’re describing a hurricane: ‘My wife and I thought we were prepared; we lost everything!’”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person whose children have grown up and left home."
      ],
      "id": "en-empty_nester-en-noun-8NQ9TJgH",
      "links": [
        [
          "children",
          "children"
        ],
        [
          "grown up",
          "grow up"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "empty nest"
        },
        {
          "word": "empty nest syndrome"
        },
        {
          "word": "full nester"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "zh",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "zh",
          "sense": "person whose children have left home",
          "word": "空巢老人"
        },
        {
          "code": "zh",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "lang_code": "zh",
          "roman": "kōngcháo lǎorén",
          "sense": "person whose children have left home",
          "word": "空巢主"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "person whose children have left home",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "anidador vacío"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "person whose children have left home",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "nidificador vacío"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "person whose children have left home",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "anidante vacío"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "person whose children have left home",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "nidificante vacío"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "empty nester"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":af",
        "3": "empty nest",
        "4": "-er<id:occupation>",
        "text": "+",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nEnglish empty nest\nProto-Indo-European *-yósder.\nProto-Italic *-āzijos\nLatin -āriusnom.\nLatin -āriusbor.\nProto-Germanic *-ārijaz\nProto-West Germanic *-ārī\nOld English -ere\nMiddle English -ere\nEnglish -er\nEnglish empty nester\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"agent noun\", \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"nom.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Nominalization of\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"adjective\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"adjective\", \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"suffix\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*-yós\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Italic\", \"term\" : \"*-āzijos\", \"lang\" : \"itc-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"-ārius\", \"lang\" : \"la\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"nominalization\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"-ārius\", \"lang\" : \"la\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*-ārijaz\", \"lang\" : \"gem-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-West Germanic\", \"term\" : \"*-ārī\", \"lang\" : \"gmw-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Old English\", \"term\" : \"-ere\", \"lang\" : \"ang\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"-ere\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"-er\", \"lang\" : \"en\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"empty nester\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"empty nester\">\nFrom empty nest + -er.",
      "name": "ety"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Etymology tree\nEnglish empty nest\nProto-Indo-European *-yósder.\nProto-Italic *-āzijos\nLatin -āriusnom.\nLatin -āriusbor.\nProto-Germanic *-ārijaz\nProto-West Germanic *-ārī\nOld English -ere\nMiddle English -ere\nEnglish -er\nEnglish empty nester\nFrom empty nest + -er.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "empty nesters",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "nolinkhead": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "empty nester (plural empty nesters)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "empty nest"
    },
    {
      "word": "empty nest syndrome"
    },
    {
      "word": "full nester"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries referencing missing etymons",
        "English entries with etymology texts",
        "English entries with etymology trees",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms suffixed with -er (occupation)",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages using etymon with no ID",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Pages with etymology trees",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              63,
              75
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2005, Ken Dychtwald, Daniel J. Kadlec, The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest of Your Life, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 31:",
          "text": "In recent years, however, the “syndrome” aspect of becoming an empty nester has receded to the background as Ageless Explorers have begun to embrace the years when they are free to play and do as they want again.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              6,
              19
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 August 10, Don Riddell, “Now that my kids are off to college, what’s this empty nester dad to do?”, in CNN:",
          "text": "“When empty nesters talk about the teenagers,” the comedian Jim Gaffigan quipped, “they always sound like they’re describing a hurricane: ‘My wife and I thought we were prepared; we lost everything!’”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person whose children have grown up and left home."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "children",
          "children"
        ],
        [
          "grown up",
          "grow up"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "zh",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "zh",
      "sense": "person whose children have left home",
      "word": "空巢老人"
    },
    {
      "code": "zh",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "lang_code": "zh",
      "roman": "kōngcháo lǎorén",
      "sense": "person whose children have left home",
      "word": "空巢主"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "person whose children have left home",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "anidador vacío"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "person whose children have left home",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "nidificador vacío"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "person whose children have left home",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "anidante vacío"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "person whose children have left home",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "nidificante vacío"
    }
  ],
  "word": "empty nester"
}

Download raw JSONL data for empty nester meaning in All languages combined (5.5kB)

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/2013",
  "msg": "more than one value in \"roman\": kōngcháo zhǔ vs. kōngcháo lǎorén",
  "path": [
    "empty nester"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "noun",
  "title": "empty nester",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-06-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-06-01 using wiktextract (e79dea5 and 7f4db16). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.