# ice

> English word · Noun · IPA /aɪs/ · frequency rank #1,081

## Definitions
1. Water in frozen (solid) form.
2. Any frozen volatile chemical, such as ammonia or carbon dioxide.
3. Any volatile chemical, such as water, ammonia, or carbon dioxide, not necessarily in solid form, when discussing the composition of e.g. a planet as an ice giant vs a gas giant.
4. Something having an extreme coldness of manner.
5. Something, such as awkwardness, that prevents open social interaction.
6. The area where a game of ice hockey is played.
7. Icing; frosting ("a sweet, often creamy and thick glaze made primarily of sugar").
8. A frozen dessert made of fruit juice, water and sugar.
9. An ice cream.
10. An individual piece of ice.
11. Elephant or rhinoceros ivory that has been poached and sold on the black market.
12. An artifact that has been smuggled, especially one that is either clear or shiny.
13. Money paid as a bribe.
14. The crystal form of amphetamine-based drugs, including methamphetamine.
15. One or more diamonds.

## Etymology
From Middle English hyse, hyys, ice, ijs, is, yce, ys, yys, from Old English īs, from Proto-West Germanic *īs, from Proto-Germanic *īsą (“ice”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyH- (“ice, frost”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian Iis, is (“ice”), Saterland Frisian Ies (“ice”), West Frisian iis (“ice”), Alemannic German Iis, isch, éisch (“ice”), Bavarian, Cimbrian, and Mòcheno ais (“ice”), Dutch ijs (“ice”), German Eis (“ice”), German Low German Ies (“ice”), Luxembourgish Äis (“ice”), Vilamovian ajs (“ice”), Yiddish אײַז (ayz, “ice”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish is (“ice”), Elfdalian ais (“ice”), Faroese ísur (“ice”), Icelandic ís (“ice”); also Cornish yey (“ice”), yeyn (“cold”), Irish oighear (“ice”), Scottish Gaelic deigh, eigh, eighre (“ice”), Welsh iâ (“ice”), Lithuanian ýnis (“hoar frost”), Bulgarian and Russian и́ней (ínej, “hoar frost”), Czech jíní (“frost”), Macedonian and Serbo-Croatian и́ње (“hoar frost”), Ukrainian і́ній (ínij, “hoar frost, rime”), Ossetian их (ix, “ice”), Armenian եղյամ (eġyam, “frost, hoar frost, rime”), Persian یخ (yax, “ice”), Hittite 𒂊𒃷 (“ice”). Superseded non-native Middle English glace (“ice”), borrowed from Old French glace (“ice”).

## Easily confused with
- **in** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-in)
- **is** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-is)
- **it** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-it)
- **if** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-if)
- **II** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ii)
- **ID** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-id)
- **IV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-iv)
- **IP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ip)
- **IQ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-iq)
- **IG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ig)
- **io** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-io)
- **IK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ik)
- **iz** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-iz)
- **IH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ih)
- **IJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ij)
- **its** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-its)
- **inc** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-inc)
- **ill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ill)
- **IDK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-idk)
- **ion** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ice-vs-ion)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ice