One German word for a nurse is der Pfleger. It comes from the same root as “pledge”. Both carry a sense of duty and care. And to be sure, Pfleger can also mean caregiver.
This makes it easy to understand a German word for “tidy” and “well-groomed”: gepflegt. This adjective comes from the past participle of the verb pflegen (to care for). Similarly, ungepflegt means “untidy” or “unkempt”.
Another word for a (female) nurse is die Krankenschwester. Even though it looks formidable, it simply means “sick sister”. die Schwester is “sister” and krank is an adjective meaning “sick”. I associate it with the English word “crank”, which comes from the same root. In German, hospital is das Krankenhaus, literally “sick house”. Finally, a male nurse is der Krankenpfleger.
