niche

Unadapted borrowing from French niche, from Middle French niche, from Old French niche, from nicher (“to make a nest”) (modern French nicher), from Vulgar Latin *nīdicāre, from Latin nīdus (“nest”). Doublet of nidus and nide via Latin and nest via Proto-Indo-European; also related to nyas.

• (General Australian, Canada, Ireland, UK) IPA^(key): /niːʃ/

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  • Audio (AU)

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  • Rhymes: -iːʃ
• (US) IPA^(key): /niʃ/, /nɪʃ/, /nɪt͡ʃ/

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  • Rhymes: -ɪtʃ

niche (plural niches)

1. (architecture) A cavity, hollow, or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament.

   Synonym: nook

   • 1641, John Evelyn, edited by William Bray, John Evelyn's Diary, volume 1, London: Henry Colburn, published 1850, page 34:

     On the margin of this long tract, are abundance of shrines and images, defended from the injuries of the weather by niches of stone wherein they are placed.

2. Any similar position, literal or figurative.
3. Specifically, a cremation niche; a columbarium.
4. (ecology) A function within an ecological system to which an organism is especially suited.
5. (by extension) Any position of opportunity for which one is well-suited, such as a particular market in business.

   Synonyms: specialty, specialization

   • 2022 April 5, Elizabeth Wetmore, “How Far Will Parents Go to Protect Their Sons?”, in The New York Times‎:

     Whitney, mother of Xavier, is a real estate titan who, along with her British husband, has found her niche selling luxurious underground bunkers to wealthy clients looking for a safe space to hunker down in the event of a climate apocalypse.

6. (Islam) An arrow woven into a prayer rug pointing in the direction of qibla.

• fundamental niche
• niche market, niche marketing

niche (third-person singular simple present niches, present participle niching, simple past and past participle niched)

1. (transitive) To place in a niche.

   a niched vase

2. (transitive, marketing) To specialize in a niche, or particular narrow section of the market.
   • 2002, Frederick Betz, Executive Strategy, page 92:

     Product differentiation will be mostly limited to market niching and fashion.

niche (comparative more niche or nicher, superlative most niche or nichest)

1. Pertaining to or intended for a market niche; having specific appeal; obscure.

   niche products

   niche audience

   • 2016, BookLover, How to Become A Massive YouTube Celebrity‎:

     You can go even more niche if you like though and choose 'crocheting' or 'bird sewing patterns' but the 'more niche' you go, the more you narrow your audience.

• niché

• Chien, chine, chiné

Borrowed from French niche, from Middle French niche, from Old French niche.

• IPA^(key): /niʃ/

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• Hyphenation: ni‧che

niche f (plural niches, diminutive nicheje n)

1. (especially in ecology and business) a niche

• nis

• IPA^(key): /niʃ/

• audio

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Inherited from Middle French niche, from Old French niche, deverbal of nichier (“make a nest”), from an unattested verb *nīdicāre, from Latin nīdus (“nest”).

niche f (plural niches)

1. niche
2. kennel (house or shelter for a dog)

• → Danish: niche
• → Dutch: niche
• → English: niche
• → Macedonian: ни́ша (níša)
• → Russian: ни́ша (níša)

• chenil

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

niche

1. inflection of nicher:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “niche”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• chien, chine, Chine, chiné

From Old French niche, from nichier (“make a nest”), from Latin nīdus (“nest”).

niche f (plural niches)

1. (Jersey) kennel

• câniche

• IPA^(key): /ˈnit͡ʃe/ [ˈni.t͡ʃe]
• Rhymes: -itʃe
• Syllabification: ni‧che

niche m (plural niches)

1. (Venezuela, slang, offensive) low-class

• “niche”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014