In Latin, habere means “to have” and habitus, the past participle of habere, refers to what one has, or how one customarily is, or how one behaves. So when we talk about our eating habits, we mean what we usually eat. Littering is a bad habit. Tooth flossing is a good habit. If you floss your teeth every day, you are a habitual flosser and your dentist will be pleased with you.
When we develop a habit, we get so used to that behavior that it becomes almost automatic. We have become habituated to it. We can also get habituated to things other than behaviors. For example, olfactory habituation (olfactory means “having to do with smell”) is also known as “nose blindness.” If have a habit of piling up dirty socks in your bedroom, your room will smell like dirty socks, but you will become habituated to the smell so you won’t really notice the odor that shocks visitors who enter your door.
Your room or your home—the place you inhabit—might be considered your habitat, though we usually use that term for plants and animals. A habitat is the place where an organism naturally grows and lives. The habitat of the Kalahari cactus is southern Africa. The natural habitats of koala bears are in Australia while the natural habitats of polar bears are in Arctic regions. We hear a lot these days about habitat loss. Polar bears can only live on sea ice and their habitats are shrinking rapidly because of climate change. A place becomes uninhabitable when it can no longer support life. A sea without ice is uninhabitable for polar bears.
To rehabilitate is to repair, reform, or restore to a former state. You can rehabilitate a building, a reputation, a person, or even a part of a person: if you tear your Achilles tendon, you can do physical therapy to rehabilitate your injured ankle.
The word habit can also refer to apparel, specifically something worn for a particular purpose or role. The garb of a monk or a nun is called a habit, and the clothes worn by an equestrian are called riding habits.
The Abbot habitually wears his habit when he goes to visit the habitat of the local rabbits!
Author: Carol J. Cook
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