snow
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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4 characters
Language
English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "snow", 4-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "snow" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "snow" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
snow is aEnglishnoun. It means: The partly frozen, crystalline state of water that falls from the atmosphere as precipitation in flakes; also, the falling of such flakes; and the accumulation of them on the ground or on objects a... Pronounced /snəʊ̯/. It ranks #2,231 in English word frequency. Often confused with so and SW.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | snow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /snəʊ̯/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #2,231 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for snow is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /snəʊ̯/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,231 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 6 documented wrong-spelling variants for snow, with forms such as "nsow", "snnow", and "snoww". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "so", "SW", "son", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Middle English snaw, snou, snow (“snow; accumulation of snow; snowfall; snowstorm; whiteness”), from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw (“snow”), from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), from Proto-Indo-Europea… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is snow, spelled S-N-O-W, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The partly frozen, crystalline state of water that falls from the atmosphere as precipitation in flakes; also, the falling of such flakes; and the accumulation of them on the ground or on objects as a white layer.
- 2The partly frozen, crystalline state of water that falls from the atmosphere as precipitation in flakes; also, the falling of such flakes; and the accumulation of them on the ground or on objects as a white layer.
- 3The partly frozen, crystalline state of water that falls from the atmosphere as precipitation in flakes; also, the falling of such flakes; and the accumulation of them on the ground or on objects as a white layer.
- 4The partly frozen, crystalline state of water that falls from the atmosphere as precipitation in flakes; also, the falling of such flakes; and the accumulation of them on the ground or on objects as a white layer.
- 5Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 6Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 7Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 8Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 9Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 10Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 11Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 12Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 13Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 14Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 15Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 16Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
- 17Something resembling snow (etymology 1 sense 1) in appearance or color.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English snaw, snou, snow (“snow; accumulation of snow; snowfall; snowstorm; whiteness”), from Old English snāw (“snow”), from Proto-West Germanic *snaiw (“snow”), from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (“snow”), from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos (“snow”), from *sneygʷʰ- (“to snow”). The verb is derived from Middle English snouen (“to snow; (figurative) to shower”), from snou, snow (noun) (see above) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). Displaced Old English snīwan, whence English snew (obsolete). Verb etymology 1 sense 2.3.2 (“to convince or hoodwink (someone)”) probably refers to a person being blinded or confused by a snowstorm. The adjective comes from the phrase a snowball's chance in hell, also see snowball clause at Wikipedia. Cognates * Scots snaw (“snow”) * Yola sneew, sneow, snow, snowe (“snow”) * North Frisian Sne, sni, snii, snii'e, snä, snäi (“snow”) * Saterland Frisian Snee (“snow”) * West Frisian snie (“snow”) * Alemannic German schnee, schnei, schnia, schné, schnìj (“snow”) * Bavarian schnea, sghneab (“snow”) * Cimbrian snea, snèa (“snow”) * Dutch snee, sneeuw (“snow”) * German Schnee (“snow”) * Limburgish Schnië, snieë (“snow”) * Luxembourgish Schnéi (“snow”) * Mòcheno schnea (“snow”) * Vilamovian śnej, šnej, śnyi (“snow”) * Yiddish שניי (shney, “snow”) * Danish sne (“snow”) * Elfdalian sniųo (“snow”) * Faroese snjógvur (“snow”) * Icelandic snjár, snjór, snær (“snow”) * Norwegian Bokmål sne, snø (“snow”) * Norwegian Nynorsk snjo, snø (“snow”) * Swedish snö (“snow”) * Gothic 𐍃𐌽𐌰𐌹𐍅𐍃 (snaiws, “snow”) * Irish sneachta (“snow”) * Manx sniaghtey (“snow”) * Scottish Gaelic sneachd, sneachda (“snow”) * Welsh nyf (“snow”) * Latin nix (“snow”) * Ancient Greek νίψ (níps, “snow”) * Latvian snìegs (“snow”) * Lithuanian sniẽgas (“snow”) * Belarusian, Russian, and Macedonian снег (sneg, “snow”) * Bulgarian сняг (snjag, “snow”) * Czech sníh (“snow”) * Polish śnieg, śmiég (“snow”) * Serbo-Croatian сне̑г, сније̑г, snȇg, snig, snijȇg (“snow”) * Slovak sneh (“snow”) * Slovene sneg (“snow”) * Ukrainian сніг (snih, “snow”) * Shughni жиниҷ (žiniǰ, “snow”) * Avestan 𐬯𐬥𐬀𐬉𐬲𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (snaēžaⁱti, “to snow”) * Sanskrit स्नेह (snéha, “grease, oil”)
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: nsow,snnow,snoww,snwo,sonw,ssnow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for snow
Misspelling Variants of "snow"
Frequency rank: #2,231 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our English index: