nice

• adj. 精密的；美好的；细微的；和蔼的
• n. (Nice)人名；(英)尼斯

来自法语nice,笨的，傻的，来自拉丁语nescius,无知的，ne-,无，没有，-sci,知识，知道，词源同science.后来词义反转的赋予了诸多褒义色彩。比较silly.

nice

nice: [13] Nice is one of the more celebrated examples in English of a 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’, a compound adjective formed from the negative particle ne- and the base of the verb scīre ‘know’ (source of English science).

This passed into English via Old French nice with minimal change of meaning, but from then on a slow but sure semantic transformation took place, from ‘foolish’ via ‘shy’, ‘fastidious’, and ‘refined’ to on the one hand ‘minutely accurate or discriminating’ (as in a ‘nice distinction’) and on the other ‘pleasant, agreeable’ (first recorded in the second half of the 18th century).
=> science

nice (adj.)

late 13c., "foolish, stupid, senseless," from Old French nice (12c.) "careless, clumsy; weak; poor, needy; simple, stupid, silly, foolish," from Latin nescius "ignorant, unaware," literally "not-knowing," from ne- "not" (see un-) + stem of scire "to know" (see science). "The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj." [Weekley] -- from "timid" (pre-1300); to "fussy, fastidious" (late 14c.); to "dainty, delicate" (c. 1400); to "precise, careful" (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to "agreeable, delightful" (1769); to "kind, thoughtful" (1830).

In many examples from the 16th and 17th centuries it is difficult to say in what particular sense the writer intended it to be taken. [OED]

By 1926, it was pronounced "too great a favorite with the ladies, who have charmed out of it all its individuality and converted it into a mere diffuser of vague and mild agreeableness." [Fowler]

"I am sure," cried Catherine, "I did not mean to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why should I not call it so?"
"Very true," said Henry, "and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk; and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything." [Jane Austen, "Northanger Abbey," 1803]

来自柯林斯例句

2. She met Mr and Mrs Ricciardi, who were very nice to her.

她见到了里恰尔迪夫妇，他们对她非常友好。

来自柯林斯例句

3. We had a nice meal with a bottle of champagne.

我们美餐了一顿，还喝了一瓶香槟。

来自柯林斯例句

4. All the nice areas in Florida are becoming more and more urbanized.

佛罗里达所有的那些好去处都在变得越来越都市化。

来自柯林斯例句

5. T-shirts are a nice little earner and it's better than the dole.

卖T恤衫来钱容易，比领救济金好。

来自柯林斯例句