nicenice

Nice comes from Middle English nyce ‘foolish’, from Latin nescius ‘ignorant’, and ultimately from Latin sciō ‘to know’.

1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsciō¹‘to know’
2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnesciō²‘not to know’
3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnescius³‘ignorant’
4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400nice³
5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nyce³‘foolish’
6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590–1592nice³

1. ¹ Wiktionary, Latin nescio
2. ² Wiktionary, Latin nescius
3. ³ Wiktionary, English nice
4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590–1592, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew: “Old fashions please me best; I am not so…”.