nice

A1 Topic:Describing People

US /ˈnaːs/ UK /ˈnaɪ̯s/ See IPA manual

adj Freq #196

Meanings

1

adj
Pleasant, enjoyable, or attractive.

We had a really nice time at the beach.
2

adj
Kind and friendly toward other people.

She is a nice person who always helps her neighbours.
3

adj
Polite and well-mannered.

It was nice of him to hold the door open for us.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adj · kind and friendly toward... charming

3 adj · polite and well-mannered. gracious

More delightful friendly kind lovely pleasant sweet

Opposites

awful disgusting distasteful foul gross horrible horrid nasty naughty nauseating putrid rancid

Word family

Forms nicernicest

Related forms nicety

Etymology

Borrowed from French Nice, from Latin Nīcaea, from Ancient Greek Νῑ́καια (Nī́kaia), named for a 4th-century-BCE victory of its colonizing Phocaean Greeks over local Ligurians, probably the Vediantii, from νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-ia: forming place names”). Doublet of Iznik and Nicaea.

Nīcaea Latin Νῑ́καια Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing People

# nice

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈnaːs
**IPA (UK):** ˈnaɪ̯s
**Frequency rank:** 196

## Meanings
1. Pleasant, enjoyable, or attractive.
2. Kind and friendly toward other people.
3. Polite and well-mannered.

## Examples
- We had a really nice time at the beach.
- She is a nice person who always helps her neighbours.
- It was nice of him to hold the door open for us.

## Synonyms
- delightful
- friendly
- kind
- lovely
- pleasant
- sweet

## Antonyms
- awful
- disgusting
- distasteful
- foul
- gross
- horrible
- horrid
- nasty
- naughty
- nauseating
- putrid
- rancid

## Related Forms
- nicety

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: Nīcaea
- Root: Νῑ́καια

## Etymology
Borrowed from French Nice, from Latin Nīcaea, from Ancient Greek Νῑ́καια (Nī́kaia), named for a 4th-century-BCE victory of its colonizing Phocaean Greeks over local Ligurians, probably the Vediantii, from νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-ia: forming place names”). Doublet of Iznik and Nicaea.

## AI Etymology
Nice was borrowed from French Nice, from Latin Nīcaea, from Ancient Greek Νῑ́καια (Nī́kaia), named for a 4th-century-BCE victory of its colonizing Phocaean Greeks over local Ligurians, probably the Vediantii, from νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”) + -ῐᾰ (-ĭă, “-ia: forming place names”). Doublet of Iznik and Nicaea. The historical chain includes Latin Nīcaea and Ancient Greek Νῑ́καια. Modern senses include pleasant, enjoyable, or attractive and kind and friendly toward other people. The wider word family includes related forms such as nicety.

## Topics
- Describing People

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