Where does “Nice” come from?
Nice derives from French Nice, from Latin Nicaea, from Ancient Greek Νίκαια, ultimately from Ancient Greek νίκη meaning victory.
Nice (English): (pronounced /ni:s/ or /naɪs/)
Definitions
- (pronounced /ni:s/ or /naɪs/)
Ancestry of “Nice”, step by step
Nice traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English nyce
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | nyce | foolish, simple, ignorant, naive; scared, weak,... |
| 2 | Old French | nice | simple, foolish |
| 3 | Latin | nescius | unaware, ignorant; not knowing how, unable |
| 4 | Latin | nesciō | to not know, to be ignorant, to not understand |
| 5 | Latin | sciō | to be able to, to know, understand, to have practical knowledge |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | sḱēy- | to shine; to shimmer; shadow; luster, gloss,... |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | skaidą | separation, distinction |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | skÁit- | to cut, part, spearate, divide; to cut, part,... |
via French nice
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | nice | candid, naive |
| 2 | Latin | Nīcaea | Nicaea, Hellenic city in northwestern Anatolia |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | Νίκαια | any one of a number of cities named Nicaea |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | -ῐ́ᾱ | {{l|en|-ia}}; "suffix forming abstract feminine... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -íh₂ | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -h₂ | Creates collective nouns, which refer to groups... |