Neve
/ˈniːv/noun
A permanent mass of granular snow that survives at the upper end of a glacier or in a snowfield.
Did you know?Its lineage runs through Latin nix, nivis, the same old snow-root that also gave us words like nival and even the name Nevada, literally “snowy.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sneygʷʰ-
“to snow; snow”
Latin
Latin
nix, nivis
“snow”
Old French
Old French
neve
“snow; a snowfield or snowy mass”
Middle English
English
neve
“snow; a mountain snowfield or glacier snow”
Modern English
English
neve
“a permanent snowfield, especially one feeding a glacier”