névé

[ ney-vey ]

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

  2. a field of such snow.

Origin of névé

1
1850–55; <Franco-Provençal <Vulgar Latin *nivātum, noun use of neuter of Latin nivātus snow-cooled, equivalent to niv- (stem of nixsnow) + -ātus-ate1
  • Also called firn, old snow .

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use névé in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for névé

névé

/ (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

Origin of névé

1
C19: from Swiss French névé glacier, from Late Latin nivātus snow-cooled, from nix snow

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for névé

névé

[ nā-vā ]


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

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

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.