Niche
The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture (third edition) was published in 1980. It was created for Penguin Reference and compiled by John Fleming, Hugh Honour and Nikolaus Pevsner.
It defines a niche as: ‘A vertical recess in a wall, pier, etc., usually arched and containing a statue, urn or other decorative object’.
When used to describe products, services or interests, niche can be defined as relating to something with a narrow scope of appeal for a specialised audience.
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