the word nice
Most people, who speak English, in the world today have a similar understanding of the word nice. We would use it in the sense that something is pleasing, polite, agreeable, or respectable. Someone's mother might state that "he's a nice boy" or "she's a nice girl". For most this would be considered a compliment, unless, of course, your mother is trying to act as a matchmaker. Nice is a word that most people like to have associated with them. Nice people are much more likeable than mean people, and overall, being nice is a very good trait. Just because being nice is an enviable trait now that has not always been the case. From the first recorded use of the word until today it's meaning has constantly changed. Over the centuries it has been used as an adjective, an adverb, and a noun. In the Old English Dictionary there are over seventeen recorded definitions of the word nice, and over twelve different spellings of the same word. Some examples of those spellings are nyce,nys,nyse, nies, and nist. The word is d
From this meaning I will skip along to the year 1596 when the word was recorded as meaning "critical, doubtful, full of danger, and uncertainty". This meaning was in recorded use until the year 1710, and is now considered obsolete. Shakespeare used the word in this sense in the well known Henry IV. "To set so rich a mayne On the nice hazard of one doubtfull houre, It were not good". In this quote it is noticable that the spelling of the word is the same as it is as the English in use today. The second recorded meaning of the word was in use from the years 1325-1606, and it is also obsolete. During this period the word meant "wanton, loose mannered, or lascivous". It could be applied to people, conduct, or dress. Chaucer used this word in the year 1285. "Nyce she was, but she mente Noone harme ne slight in hir entente, But oonley lust & jolyte". She was not nice in our sense of the word. We would actually consider her promiscuous or loose. Fortunately, when my grandmother calls my boyfriend a nice boy, she does n
Some common words found in the essay are:
English Dictionary, , French English, Dictionary Dunbar, Henry IV, Lovelich Grail, recorded meaning, word nice, english dictionary, meaning nice, recorded word, nice sense, nice boy, hard track, word obsolete, definitions word,
Approximate Word count = 696
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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