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snowflake

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Etymology and origin of the English word snowflake

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1734 Cupid and Psyche
Ultimate origins
Old English snawOld Norse flaki
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English snow
English snowflake
From the same root
English snowfall ← snow

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈsnəʊ.fleɪk/[1]
  • US: /ˈsnoʊ.fleɪk/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English snow + flake.[2][3][4][5] Snow is from Old English snāw,[2] and flake is of uncertain origin, perhaps from an Old English word or from Old Norse flak (“flat piece”).[2] Compare Dutch sneeuwvlok and German Schneeflocke.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

One of the small, feathery masses in which snow falls: 1734, in Cupid and Psyche.[3][7][2]

Semantic evolution

Soon after the snowflake itself, the name was given to white things that resemble it: the snow bunting in 1770 and the plants of the genus Leucojum in 1777;[3][4] later also a pattern in needlework and a variety of potato (both 1882), and in American mining a hairline crack in steel (1919).[3] Etymonline notes figurative use for something fragile by 1899.[2] In American slang snowflakes was cocaine from 1915,[8] and in Black slang from the 1970s a snowflake was a white person, or a Black person who imitated whites.[8] The modern disparaging use began in the United States: in 1983 the OED finds it for a person, especially a child, regarded as having a unique personality,[3] and Wiktionary quotes Palahniuk's Fight Club (1996): "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake."[6] Later it became a derogatory word, chiefly for a young person seen as lacking resilience and too ready to take offence.[9][6]

Timeline

  • 1734 – a flake of snow.[3][7][2]
  • 1770 – the snow bunting.[3]
  • 1777 – a plant of the genus Leucojum.[3][4]
  • 1882 – a needlework pattern; a variety of potato.[3]
  • 1899 – figurative of something fragile.[2]
  • 1915 – slang, cocaine.[8]
  • 1919 – US, a hairline crack in steel.[3]
  • 1972 – US Black slang, a white person.[8]
  • 1983 – a person, especially a child, regarded as unique and special.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A single flake of snow, a small, delicate cluster of ice crystals.[7][9][3]
  2. Any of several European bulbous plants of the genus Leucojum, with white, nodding, bell-shaped flowers.[9][7][3]
  3. The snow bunting.[7][3]
  4. (informal, derogatory) A person, especially a young one, seen as lacking resilience and too easily offended.[9][6]
  5. (derogatory) A person who believes they are uniquely special.[6][3]
  6. (slang) Cocaine.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Snowflake.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/snowflake. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·