Etymology

nicety

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Today it means: A small detail or distinction. Full definition →

Middle English nicetee ← Old French niceté
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromniceté“simpleness, foolishness”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromnicetee
  3. English todaynicety

From Middle English nicetee, from Old French niceté (“simpleness, foolishness”), from nice (“simple, foolish”); equivalent to nice + -e- + -ty.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.