snow monster

[ snoh mon-ster ]

noun

1. a tall evergreen tree fully encased in multiple layers of snow and ice: exemplified by firs in the alpine area of northern Honshu, Japan, where heavy snowfall and freezing Siberian winds combine to create the phenomenon:

   We skied through trails lined with hundreds of snow monsters, which was the spectacle we had come to see!

Word History and Origins

Origin of snow monster¹

First recorded in 1990–95; from Japanese juhyō, literally, “ice tree,” from ju “tree” (from Middle Chinese; compare Mandarin shù, Cantonese syu ) + hyō “tree” (from Middle Chinese; compare Mandarin bīng, Cantonese bing )