habitat

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 and ignoramus from Latin finite verbs reanalyzed as English nouns.

noun

1. (uncountable, biology) Conditions suitable for an organism or population of organisms to live.
   This park offers important amphibian habitat and breeding area.
2. (countable, biology) A place or type of site where an organism or population naturally occurs.
3. (countable, biology) A terrestrial or aquatic area distinguished by geographic, abiotic and biotic features, whether entirely natural or semi-natural.
   rights-of-way are usually perceived as disturbance zones that provide a habitat and corridor for non-native species. 2006, John Davenport, Julia L. Davenport, The Ecology of Transportation, page 248
4. A place in which a person lives.
   this book is just the impetus you need to clear the clutter and reorganize your habitat. 2006 June, Jessica Houssian, “Hot List”, in Bazaar, number 3535, page 146