névé

American  

[ney-vey] / neɪˈveɪ /

noun

1. granular snow accumulated on high mountains and subsequently compacted into glacial ice.

2. a field of such snow.

---

névé British  

/ ˈnɛveɪ /

noun

1. Also called: firn.  a mass of porous ice, formed from snow, that has not yet become frozen into glacier ice

2. a snowfield at the head of a glacier that becomes transformed into ice

---

névé Scientific  

/ nā-vā′ /

1. The upper part of a glacier, consisting of hardened snow.

2. The granular snow typically found in such a field.

---

Etymology

Origin of névé

1850–55; < Franco-Provençal < Vulgar Latin *nivātum, noun use of neuter of Latin nivātus snow-cooled, equivalent to niv- (stem of nix snow ) + -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

The Glacier Tongue comes close around a high bluff headland of kenyte; it is much cracked and curiously composed of a broad wedge of white névé over blue ice.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Scott, Robert Falcon

At one place this resemblance was greatly strengthened by a vast area of cloud, uniformly illuminated, and lying like a névé below the peaks.

From Fragments of science, V. 1-2 by Tyndall, John

The side we went up was covered by névé, which, to judge from the depth of the cracks, must have been immense.

From The South Pole; an account of the Norwegian antarctic expedition in the "Fram," 1910-1912 — Volume 2 by Chater, Arthur G.

Christmas Day, however, brought more trouble from crevasses—'very hard, smooth névé between high ridges at the edge of crevasses, and therefore very difficult to get foothold to pull the sledges.'

From The Voyages of Captain Scott : Retold from the Voyage of the Discovery and Scott's Last Expedition by Turley, Charles

At the lunch camp the snow covering was less than a foot, and at this it is a bare nine inches; patches of ice and hard névé are showing through in places.

From Scott's Last Expedition Volume I by Scott, Robert Falcon