What would happen to my gnome environment if I switch to hyprland?

So Ive been using nixos with gnome for almost a year now and things have been pretty smooth, it's just amazing, I never looked back since I started using it. So to make things more interesting and learn stuff I am trying to install hyprland, Ive no idea what window manager, compositor etc are, I have few questions Will installing hyprland delete gnome? Is hyprland not a desktop environment but something else? If yes, then how does it differ from one and what are its pros/cons? Would you suggest a clean installation to reduce bloating, or install on an existing system?