Etymograph

English

snow

Snow comes from Middle English snaw, from Old English snāw, from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *snóygʷʰos ‘snow’, from *sneygʷʰ- ‘to snow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sneygʷʰ-1‘to snow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snóygʷʰos1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snaiwaz1reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snaiw1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150snāw1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snaw1‘snow’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1530snow1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English snow
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1530, The Table of Verbes: “In wynter whan it ſnoweth it is good ſyttynge…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sneygʷʰ-Wiktionary, English snow‘to snow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snóygʷʰosWiktionary, English snowreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snaiwazWiktionary, English snowreconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snaiwWiktionary, English snowreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150snāwWiktionary, English snow
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snawWiktionary, English snow‘snow’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1530snowWiktionary, English snow. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1530, The Table of Verbes: “In wynter whan it ſnoweth it is good ſyttynge…”

The story

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’). Verb etymology 1, verb sense 2.3.2 (‘to convince or hoodwink (someone)’) probably refers to a person being blinded or confused by a snowstorm.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Explore everything descended from *sneygʷʰ- →

Another origin of snow

  1. Dutchc. 1500–presentsnauwuncertain
  2. Englishtodaysnow

Borrowed from Dutch snauw, snaauw, or Low German snau; further etymology uncertain, possibly from Low German snau (‘beak’), related to Middle Low German snute (‘snout’) (whence English snout), from Proto-West Germanic *snūt (‘snout’), from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz (‘snout’), possibly imitative.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

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Today it means

noun 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 as a white layer.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “snow”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sneygʷʰ- / snow