Etymologically
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snowflake

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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