Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world,
physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena
of the physical world, and also to life in general. It ranges in scale from the subatomic
to the cosmic.
The word nature is derived from the Latin word natura,
or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times,
literally meant "birth". Natura was a Latin translation of the
Greek word physis
(φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics that plants,
animals, and other features of the world develop of their own accord. The concept
of nature as a whole, the physical universe,
is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core
applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socratic philosophers, and has
steadily gained currency ever since. This usage was confirmed during the advent
of modern scientific method in the last several centuries.
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