English

nice

/naɪ̯s/
Pleasant, satisfactory, complimentary.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nesciō (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + sciō (“to know”).

    Etymology 2

    Name of a Unix program used to invoke a script or program with a specified priority, with the implication that running at a lower priority is "nice" (kind, etc.) because it leaves more resources for others.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*skey- “to dissect; to split”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishnyce
      • derivedOld Frenchnice
        • derivedLatinnescius “ignorant, not knowing”

    Words built on it: nice-to-have

    Sources