different between snowy vs nival

English

Etymology

From Middle English snowy, snawy, from Old English sn?wi?, equivalent to snow +? -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sn??i/

Adjective

snowy (comparative snowier, superlative snowiest)

1. Marked by snow, characterized by snow.

   snowy day

2. Covered with snow, snow-covered, besnowed.

   snowy hillside

3. Snow-white in color, white as snow.

   Synonym: niveous

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

snowy (plural snowies)

1. (informal) Synonym of snowy owl

Further reading

• snowy at OneLook Dictionary Search

Middle English

Alternative forms

• snawy, snawi

Etymology

From Old English sn?wi?; equivalent to snow +? -y.

Pronunciation

• (Early ME, Northen NE) IPA^(key): /?sn?u?i?/
• IPA^(key): /?sn?u?i?/

Adjective

snowy

1. snowy (resembling snow in temperature or colour)

Descendants

• English: snowy
• Scots: snawy

References

• “snou?, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-14.

Polish

Etymology

From sen +? -owy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sn?.v?/

Adjective

snowy (not comparable)

1. (rare) oneiric (of or pertaining to dreams)

Declension

Further reading

• snowy in Polish dictionaries at PWN

English

Etymology

From Latin nivalis, from nix, nivis (“snow”).

Adjective

nival (comparative more nival, superlative most nival)

1. Abounding with snow; snowy; snow-covered (now especially in reference to plant habitats).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)

   • 2003, Laszlo Nagy, Georg Grabherr, Christian Körner, Desmond B.A. Thompson, Alpine Biodiversity in Europe, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 406:

     The observed climate warming during the twentieth century has affected alpine vegetation by increasing vascular plant species richness on nival mountain tops […]

   • 2002, Mountain Research and Development:

     It includes the nival mountain top, the moorlands above the timberline, a belt of tropical rainforest, the semihumid footzone of the tertiary volcano, the semiarid high Laikipia Plateau, the escarpment, and the semiarid to arid Samburu Plains.

   • 1971, Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts, volume 22, issues 1-6, page 447:

     In this way, the subnival mountain range on the southern facet with its strong solifluction influence (level slope formation) approaches in height the nival mountain range on the northern facet, which is distinguished by its well developed glacial forms.

2. (botany) Found or thriving in snowy conditions.
   • 1914, The Journal of Ecology, page 60:

     In 1884 O. Heer published a comprehensive account of the nival flora of Switzerland, in which he listed 338 species of flowering plants found above 2600 m.; of these, 6 were found above 3900 m.

   • 2013, Rosa Margesin, Franz Schinner, Cold-Adapted Organisms: Ecology, Physiology, Enzymology and Molecular Biology, Springer Science & Business Media (?ISBN), page 165:

     As can be seen from the present chapter, main problems of adaptation, ecophysiology, ecology and evolutionary biology of the nival fauna were hardly investigated at all.” The early history of explorations of the nival zone in the Alps has been summarized […]

References

• nival in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Alvin, Lavin, Vilna, anvil, vinal

French

Etymology

From Latin nivalis, from nix.

Pronunciation

Adjective

nival (feminine singular nivale, masculine plural nivaux, feminine plural nivales)

1. (attributively) snow

Related terms

• névé
• neige
• nivéal (adjective)
• nivologie

Further reading

• “nival” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni?va?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Adjective

nival (not comparable)

1. nival

Declension

Derived terms

• subnival

Spanish

Adjective

nival (plural nivales)

1. snow; snow