snow

A1 Topic:Weather & Climate

Also spelled snaw

US /snoʊ̯/ UK /snəʊ̯/ See IPA manual

Freq #1776

Meanings

1

noun
Soft white flakes of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather.

The children played in the fresh snow all afternoon.
2

verb
(of snow) To fall from the sky.

It snowed heavily all through the night.
3

noun
A layer of snowflakes covering the ground.

I woke up to a thick blanket of snow over the city.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms snowedsnowingsnows

Derived forms besnowdesnowevening-snowglory-of-the-snownonsnowoversnowsneckdownsnicesnirtsno-catsno-gosnocross

Related forms avalanche blizzardchionodoxafirnfrostgraupelhailigloonivalniveouspenitentesquinzee

Appears in

Phrases (3)

See all

snow leopard
a large mountain cat of central Asia with thick pale fur

Noun + noun
snow thrower
a machine that clears snow by scooping it up and throwing it aside

Noun + noun
unmelted snow
Snow that remains frozen instead of turning into liquid water.

Adjective + noun

Proverbs (1)

See all

Don't eat yellow snow

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English snaw, snou, snow (“snow; accumulation of snow; snowfall; snowstorm; whiteness”), from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw (“snow”), from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos (“snow”), from *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”). The verb is derived from Middle English snouen (“to snow; (figurative) to shower”), from snou, snow (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Displaced Old English snīwan, whence English snew (obsolete). Verb etymology 1, verb sense 2.3.2 (“to convince or hoodwink (s…

snaw Middle English snāw Old English *snaiw Proto-West Germanic *snaiwaz Proto-Germanic *snóygʷʰos Proto-Indo-European snouen Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Weather & Climate

External links

# snow

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /snoʊ̯/
**IPA (UK):** /snəʊ̯/
**Frequency rank:** 1776

## Meanings
1. Soft white flakes of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather.
2. (of snow) To fall from the sky.
3. A layer of snowflakes covering the ground.

## Examples
- The children played in the fresh snow all afternoon.
- It snowed heavily all through the night.
- I woke up to a thick blanket of snow over the city.

## Derived Forms
- besnow
- desnow
- evening-snow
- glory-of-the-snow
- nonsnow
- oversnow
- sneckdown
- snice
- snirt
- sno-cat
- sno-go
- snocross

## Related Forms
- avalanche
- blizzard
- chionodoxa
- firn
- frost
- graupel
- hail
- igloo
- nival
- niveous
- penitentes
- quinzee

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: snaw
- Root: snāw
- Root: *snaiw
- Root: *snaiwaz
- Root: *snóygʷʰos
- Root: snouen

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English snaw, snou, snow (“snow; accumulation of snow; snowfall; snowstorm; whiteness”), from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw (“snow”), from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos (“snow”), from *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”). The verb is derived from Middle English snouen (“to snow; (figurative) to shower”), from snou, snow (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Displaced Old English snīwan, whence English snew (obsolete). Verb etymology 1, verb sense 2.3.2 (“to convince or hoodwink (s…

## AI Etymology
The noun snow is derived from Middle English snaw, snou, snow (“snow; accumulation of snow; snowfall; snowstorm; whiteness”), from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw (“snow”), from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos (“snow”), from *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”). The verb is derived from Middle English snouen (“to snow; (figurative) to shower”), from snou, snow (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Displaced Old English snīwan, whence English snew (obsolete). Important forms in the word's history include Middle English snaw, Old English snāw, Proto-West Germanic *snaiw, Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz, Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos, Middle English snouen. In current use it includes senses such as Soft white flakes of frozen water that fall from the sky in cold weather and (of snow) To fall from the sky.

## Topics
- Weather & Climate

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