Old English nest "bird's nest, snug retreat," also "young bird, brood," from Proto-Germanic *nistaz (cognates: Middle Low German, Middle Dutch nest, German Nest), from PIE *nizdo- (cognates: Sanskrit nidah "resting place, nest," Latin nidus "nest," Old Church Slavonic gnezdo, Old Irish net, Welsh nyth, Breton nez "nest"), probably from *ni "down" + *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary).Used since Middle English in reference to various accumulations of things (such as a nest of drawers, early 18c.). Nest egg "retirement savings" is from 1700, originally "a real or artificial egg left in a nest to induce the hen to go on laying there" (c.1600).

Old English nistan "to build nests," from Proto-Germanic *nistijanan, from the source of nest, n.. The modern verb is perhaps a new formation in Middle English from the noun. Related: Nested; nesting.