Meaning: Pleasant, agreeable, satisfactory

Origin: “Nice is one of the more celebrated examples of an English word changing its meaning out of all recognition over the centuries—in this case, from ‘stupid’ to ‘pleasant.’ Its ultimate source was Latin nescius, ‘ignorant.’ This passed into English via the French nice with minimal change of meaning, but from then on a slow transformation took place, from ‘foolish’ to ‘shy,’ to ‘fastidious,’ to ‘refined’ to ‘pleasant’ or ‘agreeable’ (first recorded in the 18th century).” (From Dictionary of Word Origins, by John Ayto)

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