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PlainSpell

nice

/naɪ̯s/adjective, adverb, interjection, noun, verb

nice is spelled N-I-C-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Nice, the name). As an adjective, nice means “Pleasant, satisfactory, complimentary” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in nice?

Letters4: N-I-C-E
Syllables1
In writing234 times per million words; the 425th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is nice?

Nice appears 234 times per million words in written English, the 425th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Nice, the name.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce nice?

  • US /naɪ̯s/
  • /naːs/
  • Australia /nɑ̟ɪ̯s/

Nice has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-nice.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with nice?

9 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as nice from its last stressed vowel (/aɪs/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: cine.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of nice

  • nicer comparative
  • nicest superlative
  • noice
  • nice!
  • nices present, singular, he/she/it
  • nicing participle, present
  • niced participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does nice mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    informalPleasant, satisfactory, complimentary.

  2. 2

    informalOf a person: friendly, attractive.

    You weren’t nice to me this morning.

  3. 3

    Respectable; virtuous.

    What is a nice person like you doing in a place like this?

  4. 4

    informalShows that the given adjective is desirable, or acts as a mild intensifier; pleasantly, quite.

    The soup is nice and hot.

  5. 5

    informalGiving a favorable review or having a favorable impression.

    For Candy Crush Saga, the critics were far nicer than the audience (7.9/10 vs. 3.1/10).

  6. 6

    informalShowing refinement or delicacy, proper, seemly

    a nice way of putting it

  7. 7

    obsoleteSilly, ignorant; foolish.

  8. 8

    archaicParticular in one's conduct; scrupulous, painstaking; choosy.

adverb

  1. 1

    colloquialNicely.

    Children, play nice.

interjection

  1. 1

    Used to signify a job well done.

    Nice! I couldn't have done better.

  2. 2

    Used to signify approval.

    Is that your new car? Nice!

noun

  1. 1

    niceness.

verb

  1. 1

    To run a process with a specified (usually lower) priority.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Nice in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchgentil, sympathique, sympa, agréable (pleasant, satisfactory), beau, joli (attractive, friendly)
Germanfreundlich, sympathisch, lieb, nett (pleasant, satisfactory), schön, hübsch (attractive, friendly)
Portuguesebonito, agradável, simpático (pleasant, satisfactory), bom (attractive, friendly), ótimo, beleza (interjection used to signify approval)
Spanishpaja, chulisnais, piola, genial, fachero, buena onda (pleasant, satisfactory)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does nice come from?

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”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after nice