Etymologically
Log in

icy

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word icy

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1000–1025 Beowulf manuscript
Ultimate origin
Old English īs

Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English īsig (“icy, covered with ice”),[2][3][4][5] formed from Old English īs (“ice”) + -ig,[4][3] the Old English forms of ice and -y.[6][3][7] The OED finds no record of it between Old English and the 16th century,[6] and Etymonline reports that the modern word is said to be a re-formation of the late Middle English period.[3] Old English also had a rare īsiht (“icy, extremely cold”), with the parallel suffix -iht.[6] Similar formations are Middle Dutch isich and Dutch ijzig, Middle High German īsec and German eisig, Swedish isig and early modern Danish issig.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Covered with ice: in Beowulf, where the funeral ship of Scyld stands "ísig and útfús", icy and eager to set out.[2][6] Merriam-Webster dates the word to before the 12th century.[7]

Semantic evolution

After the Old English record the word reappears in the 16th century, when it was extended from what has ice to what resembles ice or is extremely cold (about 1552), sometimes also "slippery", a sense now obsolete.[6] Of people, their manner or speech, it meant cold and unfriendly from 1567 in the OED,[6] or from the 1590s in Etymonline.[3] The sense "made of ice" follows in 1576, and of fear "chilling" in 1608.[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as full of or covered with ice, cold or frosty, and quoted Shakespeare's "icy chains".[8]

Timeline

  • Old English – covered with ice, in Beowulf.[6][2]
  • c. 1552 – resembling ice, extremely cold.[6]
  • 1567 – of a person or manner, cold, unfriendly.[6]
  • 1576 – made of ice.[6]
  • 1608 – of fear, chilling.[6]
  • 1664 – in chemistry, crystalline like ice (now rare).[6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Covered with, containing or made of ice: The bus slid on the icy road.[9][7][6]
  2. Extremely cold; freezing: an icy north wind.[9][7][6]
  3. Cold and unfriendly in manner; aloof: She answered with an icy smile.[9][7][6]
  4. Of fear, chilling or very frightening.[6]

Word family

  • icily
  • iciness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Icy.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/icy. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·