Where does “snowflake” come from?
Snowflake comes from English snow and the English suffix -flake, with snow deriving from Middle English snaw, Old English snāw, and ultimately Proto-Indo-European sneygʷʰ-.
snowflake (English): A crystal of snow, having approximate hexagonal...
Definitions
- A crystal of snow, having approximate hexagonal...
Ancestry of “snowflake”, step by step
snowflake traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English snow
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | snow | The frozen, crystalline state of water that falls... |
| 2 | Middle English | snow | snow; snow-white; The temperature where snow... |
| 3 | Old English | snāw | snow |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | snaiw | snow |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | snaiwaz | snow |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | snóygʷʰos | snow |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | sneygʷʰ- | to snow |