Snow
/snoʊ/noun
Frozen precipitation in the form of white ice crystals.
Did you know?English snow is a direct descendant of a very old Germanic word, and its relatives spread through Indo-European languages so widely that even words for ‘sneeze’ and ‘snow’ are often discussed together in ancient sound-history.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sneigwh-
“to snow, to fall as snow”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*snaiwaz
“snow”
Old English
English
snāw
“snow”
Middle English
English
snow
“snow”
Modern English
English
snow
“frozen precipitation in the form of white ice crystals”