Cultural Note
Chaucer's 'nice' is an insult. Jane Austen's 'nice' is a compliment. The same syllable held opposite verdicts.
Nice
/naɪs/ · adjective
Pleasant, agreeable, kind.
- Present
- 18th c.
- 14th c.
- 12th c.
- 1st c.
Preserved Worldview
One of the great reversals: 'nice' once meant ignorant, foolish, weak. The word records eight centuries of moral drift.
Meaning Evolution
- 1st c.ne- (not) + scire (to know)↓
- 12th c.Simple, weak, silly↓
- 14th c.Foolish, silly, wanton, ignorant↓
- 18th c.Refined, requiring precision ('a nice distinction')↓
- PresentKind, agreeable, pleasant
Philosophical Note
A living witness to semantic amelioration — the tendency for words to soften and rise in status over generations.
Cognates
- nescient
- science
Descendants
- niceness
- nicety
Source Notes
- · OED
- · Chaucer, Troilus