nippy
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: adjective/1
These four adjectives all describe cold weather but pitch the cold differently. Chilly is the most neutral — a chilly afternoon is just somewhat cold, nothing extreme. Crisp adds a pleasant edge: crisp autumn air feels fresh and energising, and the word carries positive associations with bright clear days. Nippy sits between chilly and biting — the cold is sharp enough to notice on your skin and make you pull your coat tighter, but it is not painful or dangerous. Biting is the strongest of the four: biting wind hurts, cuts at the cheeks, and is what hikers worry about in winter. So a learner can say 'a chilly room', 'crisp morning air', 'a nippy breeze off the lake', and 'a biting wind on the summit' — each pitches the cold one notch higher than the last.
Common collocations
Nouns
- nippy morning
- nippy wind
- nippy air
- nippy little car
- nippy cheese
Adverbs
- surprisingly nippy
- really nippy
- pleasantly nippy
Phrases
- turn nippy
- feel nippy
- get nippy
Etymology
First recorded in the early 1500s as a derivative of nip — itself probably from Middle Dutch or Low German nippen, meaning to pinch or sip. The original idea of a small sharp pinch carried over into all three modern senses: weather that pinches the skin, a car or animal that pinches between obstacles with quick movements, and food whose flavour pinches at the throat or tongue.